Labour Reforms of 45-51

Labour Reforms of 45-51

1. Disease

   • NHS Created in 1948
     • Comprehensive: Treat all medical problems
       • Hugely Costly due to high demands for NHS services from citizens - great extent of ill health among population was shocking
       • NHS budget rose from predicted £134m to £356m in 1950
         • led to abandonment of free specs and false teeth
       • Bevan resigned in protest at this breaking of the key principle of 'free at point of use
     • Universal Access: For everyone
       • Intital opposition to scheme from resentful doctors, who felt they were 'being treated like civil servants'
         • 90% of British Medical Assoctiation member threatened to boycott scheme.
       • Minister of Health (Bevan) introduced a new method of payment to DR's and when the NHS started on July 5th, 90% of all GP's took part.
     • Free at Point of Use: No patient asked to pay for any treatment
       • Before July '48, most health care was to be paid for
         • Although about half of the male workforce was entitled to assistance due to insurance schemes, their wives and families didn't qualify
       • Provided free specs, false teeth and maternity and child welfare services.

2. Squalor

   • Gov Aimed to buold 200K houses p/a post-war. Most were council for rent, many 'prefabs'
     • Quickly assembled and built to high standards (toilets up and downstairs)
       • aprox 1mill built by Labour between '45-51
         • New towns = popular and desirable places to live with clean, modern housing
           • Labour put emphasis on building houses wor w/c - 4/5 houses built were council
           • Labours Rent Control Acts '48 and '49 kept council house rents low to help w/c families with affordable accommodation
             • New Towns Act '46 = 14 new towns built across the UK including Glenrothes and East Kilbride
   • Destruction of 700K homes in war bombings
     • by '45, 1/3 of all GB Homes in need of repair/renovation
       • National shortage of Labour for construction industry bc war
       • More houses needed due to rise in dicorce rated during war by 250%
   • Bevan insisted on High standard homes: avg 1K sq ft compared to 800 sq ft in '30s
     • Poor housing/homelessness still a serious problem at end of Labour's term in Office
       • 1951 consesnsus showed that there was 750k FEWER houses than households
         • This was roughly the same level of homelessness as in 1931
     • New towns had few facilities like shops, community centres or bus routes
     • "Housing has been branded the welfarestate failure of Bevan and the 1945 Labour Gov" - Timmins

3. Ignorance

   • War caused great disruption to education and shortage of male teachers
     • Teacher Training disrupted - 1945 schools lacked fully qualified teachers
   • 1945 shortage/poor conditions of school buildings
     • 20% existing school stock damaged/destroyed in war
   • Education Act '44 - provided free High School ed. for all
     • Secondaries split into 3 divisions - Grammar, Modern, Tech
       • Pupils allocated on basis of an IQ test
     • school leaving age increased to 15 in '47
   • by 1950 1,176 new school being built - 928 were primaries
     • Small increase in w/c boys attending better Grammars
       • 35k teachers trained under 1yr emergency training scheme during Labour's Term in office
   • m/c seemed to do better out of Ed. Reforms than w/c
     • too few Grammar places (20%) through 11+ and m/c did better
       • Grammars = high status schools largely for m/c, good resources, trained teachers, smaller classes and better exam results

4. Idleness

   • Fear of Return of 1930s unemployment levels
     • 1945 ideleness seen as biggest problem in comparison to other 'Giants'
       • War economy eliminated unemployment in 1945
         • 1943 - 62K unemployed
   • 1944 Employment Policy - "High and stable level of employment after the war"
     • The Government kept interest rates down and full employment was generally achieved
       • Government also encouraged private investment and LA spending as well as controlling inflation
   • Nationalisation policy had its roots in Labour's socialist beliefs and was adopted as part policy post WW1
     • Nationalisation = Gov to take over major industries and run them for the country's benefit, rather than having private owners
       • Government used profits rather than the money 'filling the pockets of private owners'
         • Labour's belief that they could control and manage the economy more effectively and maintain full employment

5. Want

   • 2 million homes destroyed in blitz
     • £0% £ dev devaluation post-war - inrceasing pov/unemployment
     • Rationing on food, clothes, petrol... not ended until '45
     • Fuel shortages of winter '47
   • Family Allowance Act - small amount to mothers of 2 or more kids
   • The Industrial Injuries Act - paid compensation for all injuries at work, covering all workers.
   • National Insurance Act '46 - improved old Liberal Act - all people in work included
     • State provided £2.25 p/w and Women were given the same compensation rate as men
     • Covered all adults, providing benefits to cover all eventualities 'from cradle to grave'
     • Insured entitled to: Unemployment benefit, sickness, maternity, guardian's allowance, widow's benefit, pension and death grant for funeral costs
       • Value of Pensions significantly increased allowing a comfortable life for the elderly
   • National Assistance Act - helped those unemployed or who hadnt paid enough into new N/I scheme.
     • 'safety net' to ensure no one fell into poverty - included all workers and families in benefit scheme
     • designed as a backup to N/I but did not work out like that
     • 1949 - 48% of all NA went to supplement Pensions = many older reluctant to pay
       • Prices risen by '48 and welfare benefits from NA only made up around 19% of average industrial wage