Social Reform of the Liberals (1908)

School Meals Act (1906)

• Free school meals
• Local authorities could levy a rate of pay for needy children meals

Medical Inspections Act (1907)

• Medical inspections in schools
• Government grants to set up school clinics
• Free medical treatment

Children's Charter (1908)

• Collection of measures to protect and decriminalise children
• Juvenile courts set up
• Not to be mixed with hardened criminals
• Emphasis on rehabilitiation
• Illegal for children to beg on the streets
• New penalities for the ill-treatment of children
• Sale of cigarettes, tobacco and unsealed alcohol to children under 16 was banned

Old Age Pensions Act (1908)

• Provided a non-contributory pension of 5 shillings per week
• People aged 70 and over
• Annual income over £21
• Given as a right and not a charitable handout
• Removed the stigma of applying for help under the poor system
• No financial burden attached to it
• Collectivist principle of State intervention

Trade Boards Act (1909)

• Fixed minimum wages for the various trades involved

Shops Act (1911)

• Gave assistants a half day holiday a week

The Mines Act (1908)

• Limited the number of hours a miner could work underground in a day
• Eight hour day

Exchange Offices

• Advertised local job vacancies
• Paid out unemployment benefits
• Bring together worker and employer at one location

• Compulsory scheme
• Organised in two parts
• First related to health insurance
• Second related to unemployment insurance

• Compulsory scheme
• Health insurance for workers earning less than £160 a year
• Worker would contribute 4d
• Employer would contribute 3d
• The State would contribute 2d
• Benefit would be 10 shillings a week for 13 weeks 
• Free medical attention and medicine

• Compulsory scheme
• Workers in trades that were most affected by seasonal variations
• Employer contributed = 2.5d
• Employee contributed = 2.5d
• State = 3d
• Benefit = 7 shillings a week for 15 weeks in a 12 month period

Trade Disputes Act (1906)

• No case could be brought against a union for damages caused by strike action
• Made peaceful picketing legal
• Strong legal position as a basis for the future
• Secured their industrial power