How and Why Did the Liberal Government Help the Poor?

• contrasts of rich and poor, town and country
• traditional boundaries were being blurred
• more women wanted to work
• working people wanted to be involved in decision making 

• had to depend on private charities or on the state-established system for poor relief for help in bad times

Charities:

• help in form of money, clothes or food
• sometimes provided accomodation for the elderly and destitute
• some specifically for children

The Poor Law:

• most dreaded type of help
• workhouses- provided food or shelter for the poor however the conditions were awful
• if you were to accept relief you were labelled as a pauper- shame and disgrace

Social Investigators:

• Seebohm Rowntree --> found that 28% of the people in York were living in poverty and that there were two types of poverty- Primary and Secondary
• Charles Booth --> nearly 31% of Londoners were living below the 'poverty line'. This meant they did not have enough money for food, shelter or clothing

Changing Attitudes:

• Progressive Liberalism --> social reform programme, young new liberals were convinced by the social investigations
• Rise of the Labour Party --> pledged to get better working and living conditions for the working class- competition
• National Efficiency & Boer War --> young men volunteered to fight however thousands were rejected as unfit as they were malnourished. The british work force hadn't got the strength or stamina to compete 

School Meals Act:

• provide free meals for children from the poorest families
• provided one good meal a day for children in poverty
• however, not every child was eligible for a free school meal- seen as unfair/equal

School Medical Service:

• compulsory medical checks
• free
• had to pay for any treatment required

Children's Act 1908:

• protected against cruelty
• children's homes were to be registered and inspected
• juvenille courts to be set up
• children under 14 not allowed in pubs
• no cigarettes sold to under 16's

Old Age Pensions Act 1908:

• gave weekly pensions from government funds to everyone over 70
• allowed the elderly to afford daily food etc. instead of living in poverty
• 70 was a very old age and not many people actually lived to this age
• ^it only applied to certain people 

Labour Exchanges Act 1909:

• unemployed workers could go to a labour exchange to look for work
• it was a very efficient way of finding work
• people were still unemployed- it did not increase chances of employment

National Insurance Act 1911:

• prevent poverty resulting from illnesses, people had to insure themselves against sickness and they got paid if they were to become ill
• wouldn't be forced to live in poverty when ill- save up money
• the pay decreases if you're ill for a long period of time

National Insurance Act Part II 1912:

• prevent poverty resulting from unemployment by insuring workers against periods when they were out of work
• allowed people to not live in poverty while unemployed- better oportunities
• the middle and upper class people believed this would make people lazy and was unfair