Labour social reforms 1945-51 - Poverty

2. Family Allowances Act
In 1946 the Family
Allowances Act came into law.
This was to help tackle ‘want’.
The Act gave weekly payments
to all mothers with two or more
children. The payment was 5
shillings per week for each
child (except the oldest).

3. Family Allowances Act
The Family Allowances Act
was a huge help to families
where the husband had been
killed during the war.
Also as it was paid directly to
the mother it was felt that this
would make it more likely to
be spent on household items.

4. Family Allowance Act
The F.A.A. was hugely
helpful to many – but it did
not help families with only
one child.
Also, the payment stopped
at 18 which often forced
the young person to work,
rather than continue with
their education.

5. National Insurance Act
The 1946 National Insurance
Act built on the work started
by the original Act in 1911.
All working age people had to
pay money to the government
each week, which led to them
being given help when they
needed it.

6. National Insurance Act
People could get sickness
and unemployment benefit,
an old age pension (women
at 60, men at 65) and other
benefits such as maternity
and death grants.
This was a far more generous
type of welfare cover than
ever before.

7. National Insurance Act
Weekly contributions were
around 5% of earnings, a lot
to the very poorest people.
People were only entitled to
all benefits after paying
national insurance for ten
years, so some people
missed out.

8. National Assistance Act
Many people could not afford
to pay National Insurance, so
in the 1948 the National
Assistance Act was
introduced.
This allowed poor people to
apply for extra financial help if
they needed it.

9. National Assistance Act
This Act meant that the very
poorest – who would have
missed out on help – were
given assistance e.g. £2 per
week for married couples.
This was especially helpful
for elderly people that did not
qualify for a pension.

10. National Assistance Act
Government benefits did not
take account of inflation, and
so lost value over time,
helping people less.
Also, it was means-tested
and not universal, which
many felt went against the
spirit of the welfare state.

11. Poverty
Seebohm Rowntree
carried out other poverty
studies in York in 1936
and 1950.
He found that average
poverty levels in 1936
were around 36%, falling
to only 2% by 1950.

12. * LINKS *
Improving the education
system was meant to
allow poorer children to
get a better education –
and then escape poverty.
Better housing tackled
poverty by improving
living conditions.