Britain 1945-1979: The Beveridge report

(a) What was the Beveridge report? (b) To what extent did World War II change Britain?

(a) The keystone of Labour policy after the 1945 landside was setting up the Wefare state. This idea of comprehensive social reform, which was one of the key factors in explaining the labour landside in 1945, was not a new concept. The concept's real birth can be situated around the end of the Victorian period and first moves in western Europe towards reform where attempted well before 1945. One could use Loyd George's period as chancellor of the exchequer or Bismarck's reformist social policies in Germany as timid infancies of a concept who globally develloped throughout the first half of the 20th century. Already, Britain had develloped a range of welfare services, however limited, such as free school meals and milk, in 1939. For several socio-cultural and historical reasons, the idea really came to the fore during WW II, after invasion by the Whermachct became an unlikely scenario. In December 1942, Sir William Beveridge, a liberal, and distinguished economist, handed in the document which became known as the 'Beveridge report '. This report, commisioned by Ernest Bevin in 1940, in the name of the coalition government, was basically a blueprint for social reform and establishment of a complete Welfare State in the UK. It included three three key principles for a system of social security, respectivly, family allowences, a comprehensive national health service (NHS) and pathways to full employment, which historians could caracterise from a natural move forwards to a small social revolution. Upon publication, the beveridge report had a highly inspiring effect for it promised to get rid of the two most hated features of the 1930's which were unemployement and the Means Test. The War had had pushed away the shame of the Means test over the British population for it had realised they were paying for it through taxes.