This essay is going to outline the founding principles of the Welfare State which were laid down in the Beveridge report. It will also compare these with a modern approach to welfare and to do this, the essay is going to use specific examples like policies on the NHS, living benefits and how these have evolved through successive governments. A welfare state is a government concept it plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. Adams (2002, pg16) points to the welfare state being a 'succession of legal provisions which arose from the complex processes of policy making'. As challenges in the social well-being of the poorer increased, Sir William Beveridge authored The Beveridge Report which led to the implementation of the Welfare State in Britain. The report led to the creation of the five giants that aimed at addressing income inequalities, diseases linked health, ignorance linked to education, squalor linked to housing and idleness linked to employment issues.
Main Street, Keene NH in the 1950s
Hillary Clinton in Hampton, NH
Former British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherThe Welfare state after the report was divided into four parts according to Hill et al (2009, pg38). The first was the period from 1951-1964. This period saw little social innovation. The following period was 1964-1974 the time when the Labour government came into power and this was a period of 'intense policy changes as pointed out by Hill et al'. 1974-1979 was a period of economic hardship. The last period was between 1979-2008 where most changes took place under Margaret Thatcher and were continued by Tony Blair. The Beveridge had envisaged an insurance contribution society where the individual contribute to the state and then the contributions will indemnify the individual against future need as pointed out by Hill et al (2009 pg34). Poverty was seen as the key social problem...