the creation of post-war welfare state in the UK by the Labour Government. Continuous debates between two main parties. Critics and attacks towards the welfare state.

1. The Post-war
Welfare State
In the United Kingdom
Page, Robert M. (2012) “The Post-war Welfare State”, in Alcock,
P., May, M., Wright, S. (eds.) The Student’s Companion to Social
Policy 4th Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prepared by Bimo Arianto
Picture: pexels.com

2. Wartime
Coalition
Government
in 1940
Labour
ministers
joined

3. Clement Attlee
Pressed the coalition
government for more
egalitarian economic &
social policies
Report on Social
Insurance & Allied
Services (1942)
Come to tension since
William Beveridge’s

4. Labour need a
“Gestapo” to push
through its socialist
programmes
“
”Churchill’s provocative comment in
General Election 1945 broadcast
Conservative favoured return to a free
enterprise economy,while Labour
pressed for a greater state intervention

5. Labour Government
1945-1951
Ambitious plan to create a post-war
welfare state
BANNISH
5EVILS
GIANT
Beveridge’s Report (1942)
WANT
Poverty
SQUALOR
Homelessness
DISEASE
Illness
IGNORANCE
Educational disadvantage
IDLENESS
Unemployment
Clement Attlee

6. Labour Government
1945-1951
The introduction of comprehensive
social security system
National Insurance Act(1946)
Contributors were entitled to claim unemployment benefits,
sickness benefits, dependant’s allowances, maternity
payments, retirement pensions, and death grants
National Assistance Act(1948)
Provided means-tested allowances for those ineligible for
National Insurance payments

7. It is generally regarded as the finest achievement
of Labour’s first post-war government.
National Health Service Act(1946)
Running effectively since 1948
Aneurin Bevan
The decision to nationalize the voluntary hospitals
represented a major departure from the
coalition’s health policy

8. Housing:
Destroyed homes from
wartime bombings
Acute shortage of building
material and construction workers
‘Ideological’ for high quality
public housing
“Fail” to provide targeted
number of houses
Education:
No major changes to the
1944 Education Act
Labour Government
1945-1951

9. Modern Conservatism
Conservatives made efforts to
convince the public that they were not
hostile to the welfare state
Publish influential policy papers:
▪ The Industrial Strategy (1947)
▪ The Right Road for Britain (1949)
Edward Heath Enoch PowelIain Macleod
One Nation Group
One Nation. A Tory Approach to
Social Problems
Construct a modern welfare strategy that
complement traditional Conservative concerns
(sound finance, efficiency low tax, self reliance,
voluntarism)

10. Conservative Governments (1951-1964)
Committed to maintain welfare state. Showed it
by pressing ahead their campaign pledge to
build 300,000 new homes each year.
It’s hard to balance the party’s
traditional quest for economic stability with
their newly found commitment to the
welfare state and full employment.
In general, the modern Conservatives attempted to constraint the growth
in social expenditure by low key measures, such as increases in social
security contributions and council house rents, rather than by more
controversial forms of targeting.
Churchill
Eden
Macmillan
Douglas-Home

11. Welfare State Under Attack!
There have been continuous debates
between the two main parties about welfare state:
its purpose, scope, and cost.
The first Thatcher government in 1979
signalled the emergence of a more hostile
Conservative approach towards the welfare state
• “welfare state has adverse effect to the
economic performance”
• State intervention such as in health, housing,
and education was deemed problematic
Welfare state began to lose its legitimacy. Even Labour Government
(1997-2010) did not display the same enthusiasm for the “classic”
welfare state. Believing that it needed to be “modernized” (encouraging
“private” and “voluntary” involvement, and consumerist)

12. 1906-1910
Liberal
1910-1916
Liberal
1918-1922
Liberal
(coalition
government)
1922-1923 1923-1924
Jan –Oct
1924
1924-1929
Conservative Conservative Labour Conservative
1929-1931 1931-1935 1935-1940
Labour National
Labour
Conservative
(Neville
Chamberlain 1937-
1940)
1940-1945
Conservative (war-
time coalition)
(Winston Churchill)
1945-1951
Labour
(Clement Attlee)
1951-1955
Conservative
(Sir Winston
Churchill)
1955-1959
Conservative
1964-1970
Labour
1959-1964
Conservative
1974-1979
Labour
1970-1974
Conservative
1979-1983
Conservative
1983-19871987-19921992-1997
Conservative
(Margaret
Thatcher)
(John Major
1990-1992)
Conservative
(Margaret
Thatcher)
Conservative
(Margaret
Thatcher
until
1990)
1997-2001
Labour
2001-2005 2005-2010
Labour
2010-2015
Conservative
2015-2017
Conservative
2017-2019
Conservative
2019-Now
Conservative
(Tony Blair) (Tony Blair
until 2007)
(David Cameron) (David Cameron
until 2016)
(Theresa May) (Boris Johnson)
Labour
(Tony Blair)
1983-1987