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Discuss and evaluate the origins and provisions of the Welfare State

In order to evaluate the origins and provisions of the welfare state I will firstly describe Britain pre 1945, and then I will look at the introduction of the Beveridge report which led to the birth of the welfare state.

In Elizabethan England, people were offered no security and were forced to beg on the streets in order to survive. The elderly received minimal help and if you were unemployed you would have been left to starve to death. These laws remained until the industrial revolution (late 18th, early 19th century). The industrial revolution was the change of agriculture to factory production work. This caused huge problems for the people in Britain as many of the jobs such as weaving were done by hand and could now be done by machine, therefore causing more unemployment. People were then forced to move from their homes in urban areas to be closer to the factories.

In 1834 we saw the creation of the poor laws which stated that if people were unemployed it was by their choice and people who couldn’t find a job were just idle and work was available if they really wanted it. Then came the introduction of the workhouses which were seen as an alternative to starvation. These workhouses were considered degrading and many people chose the other option which was starvation.

A major change took place during the second world war, when the prime minister, Winston Churchill appointed Sir William Beveridge to investigate existing national insurance scheme after realizing that when the war finished there would be a huge need for medical provision and soldiers returning from war would rely upon the state to help them survive.

In June 1945 the Beveridge report was produced. This report set out a plan for social security reform and was based on tackling five ‘giant evils’, these being.
1- Want (Poverty)
2- Disease...