1. Poverty and the Welfare State The Welfare state
GCSE Sociology

2. By the end of this lesson:
Your will be able to describe and explain the major reforms in the provision of welfare over the last 30 years.
You will be aware of the major provisions of the welfare state.

3. What is the Welfare state?
The welfare state aims to take responsibility for the well-being of it’s citizens and to provide for those in need.
Pair work activity: How does Britain’s welfare state provide for it’s own citizens? Who benefits from this welfare state? Write down your ideas on flipchart paper.

4. History of the Welfare state: The Poor law (1834)
The Poor law produced workhouses, where the poor had to work hard in return for basic essentials.

5. History of the Welfare state: Early twentieth century
1908: Old age pensions act
1911: National Insurance act
However, these benefits were not for everyone. For example, you had to be 70 years of age before you were entitled to a pension. Those who had been found guilty of any crime were exempt, along with those who had not worked continuously.

6. History of the Welfare state: The Beveridge Report (1942)
Sir William Beveridge viewed his welfare state proposals as ‘defeating five giants’. These included:
Want (Poverty)
Disease
Ignorance
Squalor (Poor living conditions)
Idleness (Unemployment)
The labour Government of 1945 – 1951 implemented Beveridge’s ideas

7. The Beveridge Report (1942): Want
Want: New National Insurance Act extended benefits to everyone (1945). Those who were not working could claim unemployment pay for six months. Sick pay could be claimed for as long as you were sick.

8. The Beveridge Report (1942): Disease
Disease: The National Health Service Act provided free health care to everyone (1948). This included access to: -
Doctors
Hospital
Dentists
Opticians
Ambulances
Midwives
health visitors

9. The Beveridge Report (1942): Ignorance
Ignorance: The 1944 Education Act provided free education for all. Butler implemented the following: -
School leaving age set a 15
The 11 plus, an IQ test, was taken by all eleven year olds to determine which school they went to: -
Grammar school (academic pupils)
Secondary Modern (to teach practical subjects)
Technical school (to teach practical skills)

10. The Beveridge Report (1942): Squalor
Squalor (Poor living conditions): The Government aimed to provided affordable housing for all through the Town and County Planning Act (1947). It did this by: -
Building 1.25 million council houses between 1945 and 1951.
By defining greenbelts, which had to be kept as rural.
The Children’s Act (1948) aimed to ensure that all councils provided good homes and care for children ‘'deprived of a normal home life'.

11. The Beveridge Report (1942): Idleness
Idleness: The government aimed to make sure that everyone who wanted to work was able to. They did this through: -
Marshall Aid (1948): Nationalisation of road haulage, railways and coal industries in order to jump start industry and keep it going

12. The shift from means testing to universality
Before Beveridge’s ideas were put into practice, ‘means testing’ meant that only the poorest were provided for.
However, by implementing Beveridge’s ideas, the Labour Government of the 1940s shifted toward a more universal provision, where everyone was entitled to benefits. For example, every family in the country was entitled to 5s a week for each child after the first (family allowance act, 1945).

13. Pair activity: In your pairs: -
State two aspects of the welfare state that you feel has succeeded.
State two aspects of the welfare state that you feel has not succeeded.
Overall, how successful has the Welfare state been in defeating the ‘five giants’?
Write down you ideas on flip chart paper

14. The Welfare State: success or failure?
Successes could include: -
Want (poverty): benefits act as a safety net
Disease: Increase in good health due to free health care provision.
Education: More young people leaving school with qualifications. More place available at Colleges and Universities.
Squalor: Old slums demolished
Unemployment: Training opportunities to help people back into work.

15. The Welfare State: success or failure?
Failure could include: -
Homelessness
People still go without what others take for granted
Long hospital waiting lists
Some services are too expensive for some (e.g. dentists)
High levels of unemployment
Creates a dependency culture
May be easier to pretend to be ill and claim benefits.

16. New Labour welfare policies
National minimum wage was introduced (1999).
In 2003 tax credits were introduced to help the most disadvantage (e.g. working tax credits for those who earn low wages, and child tax credits).
Welfare to work schemes.
New deals to help the young, single parents, long term unemployed and disabled back into work.
Sure start children centres to help meet the needs of low income families and their children (1998).
More emphasis on provision by private and voluntary sector.

17. Other Providers of Welfare
The government is not the only provider of welfare. Who else provides welfare?
Other welfare providers include: -
Informal provision from friends, family and neighbours (e.g. caring for young, elderly)
Voluntary Sector: these are non-for profit companies and charities who aim to help the socially excluded and those who need it.
The private sector: these are profit making business. The government and individuals can purchase benefits and services from them. These can include private hospitals, private schools, medical insurance and private pensions.

18. Welfare to work schemes aim to get the long term unemployed off benefits and back into work. Many Schemes are run by private companies who are contracted out by the Government.
They aim to help people back to work by helping them with CVs, interview techniques and basic skills.
Some of the long term unemployed are sent on these schemes, which they have to attend if they want to receive benefits.

19. Welfare to work
Watch the clips from Channel Four’s Benefit Busters then answer the following questions.
What is the aim of A4e?
What difficulties do both the staff and clients face?
How do A4e make a profit?
One A4e customer, Mark, says its easier on the dole. What reasons does he give for this? Do you agree?
How effective do you think welfare to work schemes are in getting people back to work?

20. Exam questions
Have a go at answering the short answer questions on the handout (a-c). Also have a go at these questions.
Identify one cause of poverty for an individual other than unemployment or low pay (1 mark)
Explain why young people are among the most likely to be low paid (3 marks)
Identify and explain one way in which governments have tried to reduce poverty among the working population over recent years. (3 marks)

21. Answers
1 mark for appropriate identification, e.g. sickness; lone parenthood; divorce; old age.
1 mark for simple explanation. 2 marks for explanation with some development. 3 marks for explanation explicitly linked to low pay. Most likely response is one based on lack of experience or qualifications.
1 mark for identification of appropriate government action, e.g. minimum wage working families, tax credit, 2 marks for identification with some explanation. 3 marks for identification with clear explanation of how the identified action could reduce poverty among the working population

22. Useful Websites