The Beveridge Report
In the wake of World War II, social ills such as poverty and unemployment were recognised as priority issues to deal with. As early as in 1940 however, William Beveridge, a Liberal Party member and economist had been commissioned by the Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin to issue an official report on existing schemes of social security and how it could be improved for people on low incomes. The Beveridge Report, whose official name is the Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services was published during WWII in 1942.
Its founding principle is that "the object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man". Cooperation between the individual and the State can be organised so that a general policy of social progress is established. This would be achieved through the creation of a state-run system of compulsory insurance: a Welfare State.
The Welfare State
This means a system of social security guaranteeing a minimum level of health and social services to every citizen, "from cradle to grave". It introduced the payment of a flat-rate contribution taken directly from every worker’s salary in order to build up a fund that would in turn be paid for the sick, unemployed or those who suffered from industrial injury. Benefits would also be paid to widows, guardians of children without parents and a system of family allowances for second and subsequent children. Were also planned: a marriage grant, a maternity grant, some specific training grants and a death grant. Pensions for retirees would also be paid.
Everyone would contribute to the system and benefit from it. Universal access to education and health services would be offered as well, and would be funded from general taxation. The rich would pay more taxes than the poor, in order to make the contributions proportional to the level of income. The whole point was for Britain to eliminate the "Five Giants": Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness, or in today’s words poverty, poor health, lack of education, poor housing and unemployment. During World War II, nothing was done to implement the recommendations of Beveridge, but the decades that followed managed to establish a system of social security.
