5 Social Evils

Family allowances act 1945 (introduced an allowance for all children under 16, except for the first born child. ) •National insurance act 1946 (introduced a new insurance scheme that would provide those who contributed to it with a range of benefits including amongst others unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, maternity benefit, retirement benefit and widow’s benefit.•National assistance act 1948 (introduced provisions for people who were not covered (because they couldn’t or didn’t contribute) by the benefits related to national insurance.

The act provided grants of money and /or accommodation for people in urgent need or in need of care and attention. Aneurin bevan, the minister of health, introduced this clause to the house of commons by saying “the workhouse is to go. ” The details of these acts of parliament have been updated many times since they were first enacted. They established a range of state provided benefits and social welfare services that lasted for many years and in some cases are still available today. DiseaseThe national health service act 1946 was the key piece of legislation that set out the principles on which a national, comprehensive and free health service would be established.

The nhs came into being on 5 july 1948. Before the arrival of the NHS healthcare services were provided through uncoordinated and fragmented private, voluntary and local authority organisations and individual practitioners. The outbreak of the 2nd world way was seen as a key factor in forcing the government to intervene for the first time and exercise some control over Britain’s health care providers.The emergency medical service was organised, to provide a coordinated and state controlled hospital bed service, a national blood transfusion service and an ambulance service for the country. Blackmore (1998) argues that the idea of a nationalised, comprehensive system of health care was the subject of much earlier discussion, as it was clear from the turn of the century onwards that health service provision in Britain was inadequate to meet the needs of the population.

After the end of the 2nd world war all types of hospital were nationalised and brought under the contrl of the ministry of ealth.The Beveridge report placed tackling the giant evil of disease in britains high on the political agenda. It can also be argued that the promise and later introduction of a national health service was calculated to maintain the morale of the population during the war and to provide them with a vision of a bright future including free heath care for all, if Britain won the war. The NHS was fonded on 3 key principles: •That services would be free at the point of delivery That it would be comprehensive in terms of covering all people in all areas of the country.

•That access to services would be on the basis of real that is clinical need rather then ability to pay chance or other social criteria. This approach to providing healthcare services put into practise the ideological principles of a labour government that believed in democratic socialism and which also felt that there was a strong moral case for providing free, universal health care. Idleness One of the recommendations of the beveridge report was that the government should act to ensure full employment.This was later changed to high and stable employment. Following the end of the 2nd world war the high unemployment tthat people feared would happen as soldiers returned to Britain did not materialise. In the immediate post war years the labour government nationalise many of the so-called public utilities such as the gas, electricity and water industries as well as coal, steel and the railways.

This enabled politicians to plan and to some degree to manage important parts of the economy and to have an influence on employment levels.Relatively high employment levels lasted up until the early 1970’s. During this period there was a lot of optimism that government planning and regulation of the economy could create and sustain stability in this area. Ignorance Before the 2nd world war the education system in Britain was like the healthcare system, patchy and fragmented in terms of what it offered and to whom. The education act 1944 was a key piece of legislation that brought coherence to this system by nationalising much of the provision before the end of the war.Free compulsory education for all children from the age of 5 was established as both an entitlement and a requirement.

The school leaving age was 14 in 1945, later raised to 15 and then to 16 in 1960s. Equality and opportunity was a key goal of the legislation because education was seen as an important means by which all sections of society could progress and benefit. Squalor Poor housing and living conditions and the reconstruction of many areas destroyed by wartime bombing were tackled through legislation such as the town and country planning act 1947.This ultimately required all local authorities to plan the built environments of their local areas in coherent ways that benefited the local population. The social legislation that resulted from the beveridge report is described by Jones (1994) as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. It tended to build on earlier legislation and extended the already growing role and influence of the state in providing health and social welfare services in a more comprehensive and rational