Criticizing The Liberal Welfare Reforms (Essay Sample)

THE LIBERAL WELFARE REFORMS
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Introduction
The National Insurance Act of 1911 is among the top most legislative achievements made by the Liberal administration that was done in Great Britain prior to World War I. This act accompanied by Mr. Lloyd George who is the Chancellor of the Exchequer implemented a national system that covered unemployment insurance bringing with immense benefits especially to the employees.
Body
1 Primary source analysis which in detail explains the poster which was published in 1911 to summon support to the government on the specific implemented social reforms. This Act was passed in 1911 thus need support from the people due to little popularity though beneficial.
2 Historical context of the poster highlighting George Lloyd’s national debate that introduced this Act which entailed independent contributory schemes focusing on health. He got constant opposition from people but continued with his quest to mimic the German health system.
3 National Health Act was finally accepted by the parliament in 1911 after different alterations prior to harsh criticism. Lloyd, however, kept pushing on with his slogan nine pence for four pence highlighting the state’s contribution as well as the employer’s contribution.
4 Aspects of the visual image and the hope it brought to the people. Such hope and positive reforms made the people voluntarily support the liberal government as this creates a better country for the future. This was after the National Insurance Act was passed by the government
5 The National Insurance Act of 1911 came with meaningful successes and some limitations. It paid four pence, the employer contributed three pence, the state contributed two pence to avail sickness benefits that accumulated to nine shillings.
6 This Act often required insurance committees to come up with a list of doctors and health workers who were able to voluntarily attend to the patients in receipts of the national insurance benefit. The issued individuals were then required to choose from the listed health practitioners.
7 The ‘approved societies’ included industrial insurance companies together with trade unions and friendly societies.). These societies were meant to avail statutory minimum cover while the successful ones attracted other recruits with official approval to fund additional benefits.
Conclusion
In summary, the 1911 National Health Insurance Act of David Lloyd George brought with it an effective health system for workers accompanied by various economical benefits. With time, the government heightened the insurance benefits together with the contributions.
The Liberal Welfare Reforms
This primary source represents Mr. Lloyd George’s Act on National Insurance of 1911. During that era, workers were granted a sick pay of ten shillings a week for twenty-six weeks. In 1911, this poster was published to gain people’s support of the Liberal Government by indicating that the introduced National Insurance scheme meant to combat sickness, as well as disablement, had granted them immense hope and faith for the future. This poster was particularly published in 1911 due to the new approval of the improved National Insurance Act (Gulland 2019, P25). The Liberal Government also wanted support from the people because this was not a very popular measure.
This primary source has a very relevant historical context in connection with David Lloyd George who is present in the poster. The huge insurance companies were particularly worried that this new act would lower the popularity and utilization of their privatized health schemes. Mr. Lloyd organized a meeting with the representatives from the largest companies who majorly tried to convince him to abandon this scheme at once. This shows the significance of Mr. Lloyd as an individual to this policy as he managed to persuade the government to support his health insurance proposal. After a while, the Cabinet approved of the scheme as it contained main principles that were in line with the government. This led the National Insurance Bill to be initiated into the famous House of Commons in May 1911 (Tucker 2017, P90). George backed his proposal by stating that a large proportion of workers that receive good wages end up spending most of them in other ways including health thus leaving almost nothing for them to spare. Lloyd further explained that when a worker falls ill when there is no provision created specifically for him or her, they tend to push on until they get way worse then they visit a doctor who runs up a large bill which the worker has to compensate when they recover among other large bills. He made a large cry to the government to offer protection to its people against social evils. His reforms were however immensely criticized as some conservatives repeatedly accused him to be a socialist.
The National Insurance policy was a huge topic of discussion since decisions were to be made as to whether it would mimic the most utilized private insurance that often accumulated a large reserve which proved to be detrimental to the workmen. George Lloyd made his speech that centered on the People’s Budget which indicated how Germany had implemented compulsory national insurance that was against sickness since 1884 (Gulland 2019, P25). He then stated that it would benefit the workers if a similar system was introduced and implemented in Britain. Winston Churchill who in some cases countered George Lloyd introduced the unemployment insurance in 1908 that was particularly restricted to trades that were affected by cyclical unemployment thus excluding the other casual workmen. It only benefited approximately two million workers and stated that workers would contribute double the amount per week compared to the state together with employers. Lloyd took this as a challenge as he wanted to represent all citizens more fairly hence he sent one individual among his Treasury Civil servants to Germany. He tasked this individual (William Braithwaite) with making an updated study of Germany’s state insurance system. When William returned, he had a meeting with Lloyd among other individuals where he stated that this insurance scheme should be paid for the people, the employer as well as the state. He stated that individuals who have a paying job should contribute something since this grants them a feeling of self-respect since what costs nothing is often not valued (Freeman 2017).
George Lloyd is of major significance to these vital liberal reforms especially with his speech where he stated that Great Britain contained forty-three counties as well as towns and holds a huge population where annually, seventy-five thousand deaths occur from a particular disease. The image showcases George Lloyd with a worker as he showcases the national insurance act and how it is meant to aid in the eradication of sickness and disablement. This is creating immense hope for this particular worker among others as that is a clear indication of things moving in a positive direction moving forward. Such hope and positive reforms will make the people voluntarily support the liberal government as this creates a better country for the future. This was after the National Insurance Act was passed by the government. The main aim of this Act was to eradicate the stigma that was brought by the Poor Law which was initially meant to help workers. This Act however initialized sick pay and William’s unemployment insurance. Since 1909, George Lloyd upheld these reforms which were often met with setbacks but were passed after constitutional alterations as well as the Liberal Party reelections (Tucker 2017, P90). This National Insurance was vital as with time it overcame the Poor Law unions which were officially done away by 1929. With it came great benefits like free healthcare for diagnosis and patients who suffered from Tuberculosis, free and easier accessibility to panel doctors as well as maternity benefits. This act was further expanded in 1920 to cover more industries in the unemployment aspects. This gave birth to the National Health Service which was initialized in 1946. This together with legislation incorporated National Insurance payments together with benefits into the new centralized system.
The National Insurance Act of 1911 came with meaningful successes and some limitations. The merits included that it availed compulsory health insurance meant for employees who earned under one hundred and sixty euros per year. It also paid four pence, the employer contributed three pence, the state contributed two pence to avail sickness benefits that accumulated to nine shillings. If a worker was ill, they were individually paid ten shillings which catered for thirteen weeks and an additional five shillings for another thirteen weeks. It also provided free medical treatment and availed thirty shillings which would be utilized for maternity benefit (Gulland 2019, P27). After a week of an insured worker’s job being terminated, they would receive seven shillings weekly for the next fifteen weeks. For the employees to reap such benefits, they paid two and a half d every week while employers contributed two d weekly together with the state contributing three d weekly. This enhanced the involvement of various trades like iron founding, mechanical engineering, sawmilling, shipbuilding and construction of which the scheme was compulsory. The limitations, however, included that this cover was only availed to the unemployed for a limited period co...