Liberal Reforms

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Liberal Reforms

Causes

  • Social-Booth and Rowntree. 1/3 of York and London's population were in poverty. Identified main causes of poverty were old, sick, children.Such conditions led to individuals being unable to lift themselves out of poverty.Government was seen to be paternalistic and felt that it needed t interevene. Liberal Reforms -Old Age Pensions Act and Children's  Charter 1908
  • Economic- Drive for National Efficiency. Britain's economy was dependent on heavy industry. Industry was outdated, inefficient and could not compete with US and Germany. Government acted by introducing the Work Exchanges Act 1909 to reduce the number of men becoming too ill in periods of unemployment therefore, improving efficiency.
  • Political. Reform Act 1884 enfranchised 2/3rds of the male population. Large group of Working class voters were not satifisfied with the lack of reform the Liberals had given. Rise of the Labour party = Awakening of Working Class Consciousness. Pushes Liberals to introduce NI Act 1911 and Coal Mine Regulations Act 1908.
  • War- Boer War 1899-1902. 2/3s of recruits unfit for service. Most of these rejects came from working classes.Created insecurities over protection of the Empire.Interdepartmental Committee on physical deterioration. Free School Meals act 1906. Free School Medical inspections1907

Effects

  • Old Age Pension 1909                                                                                    1914 1 million people receiving pension                                        people over 70 with an annual income of £21-£31 would receive a pension (1 to 5 shillings per week)
  • Drawbacks                                                                                                       many  had no birth certificate to prove their age and died  before 70    pensions were only provided if British.lived in the UK for 20 years      not been imprisoned in the last ten years
  • Children's Charter1908The successes of this were:children were banned from begging. juvenile courts and borstals were established to separate adult and child offenders.The limitation of this was:the Children's Charter did little to deal with the causes of juvenile crime-
  • Exchanges Act 1909 - Provided work for unemployed quickly and reduced amount of time needed to deterioate. Limited illness and helped unemployed find work.
  • NI Act 1911. Resented by workers and company owners who did not want to pay contributions as workers who were not ill were less well off. However, does improve health of workers by giving them time to recover.
  • Free School Meals act 1906 provided the pooret hildren with the a hot meal every day they attended school.Health improves. Leads to better recruits for future. But health deteriorates after children leave school in summer holidays as food is no longer available.

Overall summary

The introduction of the Liberal reforms 1906 -1914 are argued to be the foundations for the modern Welfare State because the change in attitudes towards government involvement allows for effective social reform to be implemented. The Liberal Reforms were introduced for a number of reasons, economic, social, political and war all played an equal role in the introduction for different reforms however, each reform was implemented as a reaction to one of these factors. For example, due to social change, poverty was recognized as a nation wide concern that effected the country as a whole economically and in foreign policy. The high levels of poverty resulted in unfit recruits, disgruntled working class and national inefficiency. However, the catalyst for starting off the introduction of the Liberal Reforms was the Boer War as it highlighted the consequences of ineffective welfare systems preventing vast numbers of people falling poverty.

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