Were the Liberal Social Reforms a turning point?

Lesson Objectives To be able to answer a GCSE public health question To explain the key features of the Liberal Social Reforms To evaluate how far the Liberal Social Reforms were successful and make a supported judgement

Describe the work of either; Charles Booth OR David Lloyd George Describe the work of either; Charles Booth OR David Lloyd George? (4marks) 1-2marks: Simple answer that shows basic knowledge about the topic 3-4 marks Developed answer that explains key points about the topic

Were the Liberal Social Reforms a turning point? (8 marks) 1-2marks: General or simple answer that describes some key points about the topic 3-5 marks Answer gives simple details with some limited explanation 6-8 marks Answer that gives a detailed evaluation of the key points of the topic

Plan! Before the Liberal Social Reforms… What the Liberal Social Reforms were… The impact of the Liberal Social Reforms…

Before the Liberal Social Reforms poverty and poor health was a significant problem in Britain. This became evident at the turn of the century for several reasons. Firstly, 40 % of recruits who volunteered for the Boer War were unfit for fighting as they suffered from a disease called Ricketts as result of poor diet and malnutrition. Booth’s report in 1903 found that about 1/3 of the population lived on incomes that put them below the poverty line. They could not afford to buy decent food and if they became ill, then they couldn’t afford to see a doctor. This evidence was reinforced by the work of Rowntree who had very similar findings to Booth and showed that people were poor as a result of being sick, not having enough money and being old, not because they were lazy. This showed that something needed to be done to improve the health of Britain as it was a vicious circle. Before During / What happened? After / Turning Point?

The Liberal Social Reforms made provisions to combat these problems The Liberal Social Reforms made provisions to combat these problems. They introduced free school meals to deal with poor nutrition in children and medical inspections in schools to try to identify thematic problems. They also provided old age pensions which were unfortunately dropped for orphans and widows due to resistance, but still helped a significant number of people. Labour exchanges were also set up to help unemployed people find work and break the cycle of unemployment and poverty. The National Insurance Act provided people with sick pay for up to 26 weeks and unemployment pay for 15 weeks. This also helped to break the cycle of poverty as people who were sick or unemployed did not become even more ill as they still had an income for basic needs and stood a better chance of not falling into a poverty trap.

In conclusion, the Liberal Social reforms were a turning point because finally the government intervened to help keep people out of poverty during times of unemployment or sickness. Due to the work of Booth and Rowntree and the impact of the undernourished recruits, the government recognised that if they didn’t help people at times of unemployment or sickness, then their health suffered and the situation grew worse. The Liberal Social Reforms meant that the old had help and so did many workers in key industries.