1. Liberal Reforms – Success? Essay Plan
Higher History

2. How successfully did the Liberal Reforms of , deal with the problems of poverty in Britain in the early 1900s?
Introduction
Brief paragraph on problems in Britain pre-Liberal Reforms
Young Name Act, explain, how successful
Elderly Name Act, explain, how successful
Workers Name Act, explain, how successful
Other acts Name Act, explain, how successful
Conclusion

3. Essay Title
How successfully did the Liberal Reforms of , deal with the problems of poverty in Britain in the early 1900s?

4. Introduction and Conclusion
Should always start “Was a limited success but very important because first time any government made an attempt to improve the welfare of its people”.
Show balance of more successful reforms 1st and then balanced with less successful/omissions.

5. Content of Essay In your essay you must show:
1. An understanding of the problems Britain faced – brief paragraph.
2. What the Liberals did – details of legislation passed.
3. Strengths and limitations of reforms.

6. Example paragraph – National Insurance
Both National Insurance Acts I & II were for the first time a recognition that something had to be done to help workers made temporarily unemployed by sickness or by cyclical/seasonal unemployment. National Insurance I gave health insurance to 15 million low paid workers as well as maternity benefits to female workers. National Insurance II gave 2 ¼ million workers in certain low paying trades such as construction and shipbuilding benefits of 50p for up to 26weeks. However it was clear that both reforms were limited in scope to a minority of workers and for a limited period of time as well as giving benefits well below what Rowntree calculated would be necessary to keep a family above the breadline.

7. Summary – were the reforms successful?
Young
Elderly
Workers
Act Good points Bad points Successful?

8. Conclusion In conclusion, On the one hand…(good points)
On the other hand…(bad points)
Overall,

9. In conclusion, the liberal reforms went some way towards tackling the problems of poverty in Britain, however it would be an exaggeration to say that they were successful.
On the one hand, reforms aimed at helping the young did improve the diet of young people and made it easier to identify health problems through medical inspections. Furthermore, pensions introduced by the Liberals went some way to support older people. Finally, national insurance reform aimed at workers provided some people in employment with added security in times of difficulty.
On the other hand, none of these reforms went close to solving Britain’s main social problems. Children only got free meals on school days and families couldn’t afford medical treatment following inspections. Most older working class people didn’t live long enough to reach pension age and national insurance acts for workers only benefited people in certain trades.
Overall, the Liberal reforms signified the first movement of a British government away from laissez faire towards a more hands on approach to tackle the country’s problems. However the reforms were piecemeal and did not solve any of the country’s five main problems of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.