Reasons why WW2 highlighted poverty

• The Liberal reforms 1906-1914 did not fully meet the needs of the British people
• Reasons why the Liberal reforms did not fully meet the needs

  • Reforms were selective as they only helped some groups
  • Benefit levels were ungenerous and often below subsistence level
  • Many of the reforms were voluntary as control given to local authorities
  • Unemployment benefit only paid for short-term (15 weeks), so did not tackle long-term unemployment
  • Problems with pensions as it was only payable at 70 which was well above average life-expectancy and therefore, many people would die before they could claim it
  • Medical inspections did not provide treatment for children (until 1912 when school clinics introduced)
  • Health insurance did not cover most hospital treatment and therefore, this left many workers without a way of improving their health
  • Families of workers not covered by health insurance leaving them without access to medical treatment
  • Housing not tackled at all leaving many still living in inner city slums with overcrowding being a massive problem
  • Education barely tackled leaving many children without the opportunity to improve their education in order to improve their job prospects
• World War Two highlighted poverty in Britain
• Reasons why World War Two highlighted poverty

  • Evacuation of children from the cities to the countryside alerted the middle classes of Britain to the real poverty that still existed in the industrial slums
  • The war was the first time when all classes mixed, especially in the air raid shelters. This led to socialising between them, so in peace time people were much more aware of the issues different classes had
  • All classes of people shared in the destruction of housing due to bombing and shared a common enemy
  • Rationing encouraged a sense of equality as everyone had the same entitlement to rationed foods
  • Beveridge Report 1942 and other post war plans prepared for a welfare state as the government realised the extent of poverty in the country
  • The population of Britain began to see the role of government as a positive influence in ensuring that conditions could improve for all