Labour Reforms of 45-51

Disease
1. NHS Created in 1948
  1. Comprehensive: Treat all medical problems
    1. Hugely Costly due to high demands for NHS services from citizens - great extent of ill health among population was shocking
    2. NHS budget rose from predicted £134m to £356m in 1950
      1. led to abandonment of free specs and false teeth
    3. Bevan resigned in protest at this breaking of the key principle of 'free at point of use
  2. Universal Access: For everyone
    1. Intital opposition to scheme from resentful doctors, who felt they were 'being treated like civil servants'
      1. 90% of British Medical Assoctiation member threatened to boycott scheme.
    2. 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.
  3. Free at Point of Use: No patient asked to pay for any treatment
    1. Before July '48, most health care was to be paid for
      1. Although about half of the male workforce was entitled to assistance due to insurance schemes, their wives and families didn't qualify
    2. Provided free specs, false teeth and maternity and child welfare services.
Squalor
1. Gov Aimed to buold 200K houses p/a post-war. Most were council for rent, many 'prefabs'
  1. Quickly assembled and built to high standards (toilets up and downstairs)
    1. aprox 1mill built by Labour between '45-51
      1. 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
2. Destruction of 700K homes in war bombings
  1. by '45, 1/3 of all GB Homes in need of repair/renovation
    1. National shortage of Labour for construction industry bc war
    2. More houses needed due to rise in dicorce rated during war by 250%
3. Bevan insisted on High standard homes: avg 1K sq ft compared to 800 sq ft in '30s
  1. Poor housing/homelessness still a serious problem at end of Labour's term in Office
    1. 1951 consesnsus showed that there was 750k FEWER houses than households
      1. This was roughly the same level of homelessness as in 1931
  2. New towns had few facilities like shops, community centres or bus routes
  3. "Housing has been branded the welfarestate failure of Bevan and the 1945 Labour Gov" - Timmins
Ignorance
1. War caused great disruption to education and shortage of male teachers
  1. Teacher Training disrupted - 1945 schools lacked fully qualified teachers
2. 1945 shortage/poor conditions of school buildings
  1. 20% existing school stock damaged/destroyed in war
3. Education Act '44 - provided free High School ed. for all
  1. Secondaries split into 3 divisions - Grammar, Modern, Tech
    1. Pupils allocated on basis of an IQ test
  2. school leaving age increased to 15 in '47
4. by 1950 1,176 new school being built - 928 were primaries
  1. Small increase in w/c boys attending better Grammars
    1. 35k teachers trained under 1yr emergency training scheme during Labour's Term in office
5. m/c seemed to do better out of Ed. Reforms than w/c
  1. too few Grammar places (20%) through 11+ and m/c did better
    1. Grammars = high status schools largely for m/c, good resources, trained teachers, smaller classes and better exam results
Idleness
1. Fear of Return of 1930s unemployment levels
  1. 1945 ideleness seen as biggest problem in comparison to other 'Giants'
    1. War economy eliminated unemployment in 1945
      1. 1943 - 62K unemployed
2. 1944 Employment Policy - "High and stable level of employment after the war"
  1. The Government kept interest rates down and full employment was generally achieved
    1. Government also encouraged private investment and LA spending as well as controlling inflation
3. Nationalisation policy had its roots in Labour's socialist beliefs and was adopted as part policy post WW1
  1. Nationalisation = Gov to take over major industries and run them for the country's benefit, rather than having private owners
    1. Government used profits rather than the money 'filling the pockets of private owners'
      1. Labour's belief that they could control and manage the economy more effectively and maintain full employment
Want
1. 2 million homes destroyed in blitz
  1. £0% £ dev devaluation post-war - inrceasing pov/unemployment
  2. Rationing on food, clothes, petrol... not ended until '45
  3. Fuel shortages of winter '47
2. Family Allowance Act - small amount to mothers of 2 or more kids
3. The Industrial Injuries Act - paid compensation for all injuries at work, covering all workers.
4. National Insurance Act '46 - improved old Liberal Act - all people in work included
  1. State provided £2.25 p/w and Women were given the same compensation rate as men
  2. Covered all adults, providing benefits to cover all eventualities 'from cradle to grave'
  3. Insured entitled to: Unemployment benefit, sickness, maternity, guardian's allowance, widow's benefit, pension and death grant for funeral costs
    1. Value of Pensions significantly increased allowing a comfortable life for the elderly
5. National Assistance Act - helped those unemployed or who hadnt paid enough into new N/I scheme.
  1. 'safety net' to ensure no one fell into poverty - included all workers and families in benefit scheme
  2. designed as a backup to N/I but did not work out like that
  3. 1949 - 48% of all NA went to supplement Pensions = many older reluctant to pay
    1. Prices risen by '48 and welfare benefits from NA only made up around 19% of average industrial wage

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Labour Reforms of 45-51

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