Welfare 1918-1939

Welfare 1918-1939

1. David Llyod George 1918-1922

   • Consensus
     • Research/invest
     • Training
     • National hospital network
     • Rationed healthcare
     • Opposition
       • Fabian Society
         • centraliseed healthcare
   • Ministry of Health Act 1919
     • Co-ordinated regional healthcare
       • Decreased TB
   • Victorian Poor Laws
     • Taxed landowners
   • Unemployment Insurance Act 1920
     • National Insurance extended
       • 11.4 million (1921)
     • State dole test
     • Unemployment benefits
       • below average
     • Causes
       • Unemployment
       • Feared Communist revoloution
       • WW1 soldier support

2. Ramsay Macdonald 1922-24

   • Still committed to welfare

3. Stanley Baldwin 1924-1929

   • Local Government Act 1929
     • County/borough councils
       • Prevented poor law infirmaries
         • created public hospitals
     • Local health authorities
       • Responsibile for public health
         • Venereal disease
         • child welfare
         • Dentistry
     • Single health authorities created
       • Co-ordinated county healthcare
         • to local authorities
           • Provided medical service to entire population
   • Negatives
     • 50% uninsured in 1929
       • Forced to rely on private
     • Premature death
     • Poverty/hunger

4. Ramsay Macdonald 1929-1931

   • 50% uninsured against illness
     • Affordable health services needed
       • Great Depression
     • Forced to rely privately
       • didn't pay enough
         • Deprived areas
           • Extreme hardship

5. National Government 1931-1939

   • National Economy Act 1931
     • Limited benefits bill through means test
     • Criticisms
       • Disqualified part time workers
         • Mainly shipyard workers
       • Changed benefit claim to 6 months
       • Transitional payments
         • Needed to exhaust all savings/valuables
   • The Unemployment Act 1934
     • Reduced cuts in short term benefits
       • Restored benefit payments for 6 months
     • Means test payments lowered
       • 300,000 protested in Wales which suspended the cut
   • Positives
     • Unemployment fell to 9% in 1939
     • Innovative experiments in preventative healthcare
     • Infant mortality rate declined 1929-1939
   • Negatives
     • Maternal mortality rates 50% higher for low incomers
     • MC men lived 12 years longer than WC
     • Think Tank in 1931
       • Healthcare behind developing countries
         • Inefficent
         • Poorly co-ordinated
         • badly regulated