Welfare State + Society in Transition stats and figures
Provision of welfare
- IMF insisted the government cut spending by £2.5bn in return for a $4bn dollar loan
- In 1966, welfare state cost 5% of GDP
- In the 1950s, welfare state spending rose from 3% to 4% of GDP
- In 1964, Wilson encountered a £400 million budget deficit
- 1911 unemployment insurance gave 10% of working-class men, 5 shillings a week
for up to 15 weeks a year (average salary was 20 shilling a week)
- In 1920 unemployment insurance rose from 4 million people in 1919 to 11.4 million
in 1921 giving men 75p a week and women 60p a week (Bus drivers paid £3 a week
- Unemployment rose from 20% in 1933 (3 million people) to 9%(1.4 million) in 1939
- National economy act cut unemployment benefits by 10%
- Unemployment insurance 1946 taxed 25p of salary a week
- Family allowances 1945 gave mothers 5 shilling a week for every child other than
oldest
- National Insurance Act 1970 provided an additional 100,000 pensions
- Child Poverty Action Group claimed in 1965 that 720,000 children lived in poverty
- 1.5m children evacuated in 1939
- 300,000 people protested in South Wales alone in reaction to 1945 unemployment
act
, NHS
- In 1911 the liberal government provided health insurance for low paid employees
earning under £160 per year
- Budget allocations in the 1950s; hospitals in middle-class areas received an annual
budget of £4.98 per head compared to working-class areas at £3.19 per head
- 1971 there were 9 million of retirement age compared to 2 million in 1951
- Number of nurses and consultants rose by 66% between 1964 and1979
- In 1979, 5,000 heart bypass operations took place
- Hospital Plan 1962
o Created 90 new hospitals
o Redesigned and modernised 134 more and refurbished 356
- Fertility rate of 2 in 1920 and 1.3 in 1966
- Middle-class men lived on average 12 years longer than working class men
- NHS spending increased by 4.5% 1960-1975
- 58% of abortions were carried out in private sector (cost £200)
- NHS spent 250% more on drugs in 1964 than it did in 1951
- 86 died during legal abortions between 1968 and 1978
- NHS 3,100 hospitals in 1948
- June 1948 6.8m prescriptions, 13.6 million in September 1948
- During the 1920s and 1930s maternal mortality rates were 50% higher in low-
income groups than the middle class
- 1906-10 IMR 14.3/1000 vs 12/1000 in 1936-38
- In the 1970s
o Working class women were 2x likely to die in childbirth compared to middle-
class
o Unskilled working men were twice as likely to die before the age of 65 than
middle-class professionals
- 60% of women gave births in hospitals in the 1950s compared to 97% in 1978
- LE of women rose from 70.1 in 1948 to 77 in 1979
- Middle-class areas 50% of GP surgeries were built after 1900 vs 20% in working
class areas
- LE of men rose from 65.8 to 71 1948-79
Provision of welfare
- IMF insisted the government cut spending by £2.5bn in return for a $4bn dollar loan
- In 1966, welfare state cost 5% of GDP
- In the 1950s, welfare state spending rose from 3% to 4% of GDP
- In 1964, Wilson encountered a £400 million budget deficit
- 1911 unemployment insurance gave 10% of working-class men, 5 shillings a week
for up to 15 weeks a year (average salary was 20 shilling a week)
- In 1920 unemployment insurance rose from 4 million people in 1919 to 11.4 million
in 1921 giving men 75p a week and women 60p a week (Bus drivers paid £3 a week
- Unemployment rose from 20% in 1933 (3 million people) to 9%(1.4 million) in 1939
- National economy act cut unemployment benefits by 10%
- Unemployment insurance 1946 taxed 25p of salary a week
- Family allowances 1945 gave mothers 5 shilling a week for every child other than
oldest
- National Insurance Act 1970 provided an additional 100,000 pensions
- Child Poverty Action Group claimed in 1965 that 720,000 children lived in poverty
- 1.5m children evacuated in 1939
- 300,000 people protested in South Wales alone in reaction to 1945 unemployment
act
, NHS
- In 1911 the liberal government provided health insurance for low paid employees
earning under £160 per year
- Budget allocations in the 1950s; hospitals in middle-class areas received an annual
budget of £4.98 per head compared to working-class areas at £3.19 per head
- 1971 there were 9 million of retirement age compared to 2 million in 1951
- Number of nurses and consultants rose by 66% between 1964 and1979
- In 1979, 5,000 heart bypass operations took place
- Hospital Plan 1962
o Created 90 new hospitals
o Redesigned and modernised 134 more and refurbished 356
- Fertility rate of 2 in 1920 and 1.3 in 1966
- Middle-class men lived on average 12 years longer than working class men
- NHS spending increased by 4.5% 1960-1975
- 58% of abortions were carried out in private sector (cost £200)
- NHS spent 250% more on drugs in 1964 than it did in 1951
- 86 died during legal abortions between 1968 and 1978
- NHS 3,100 hospitals in 1948
- June 1948 6.8m prescriptions, 13.6 million in September 1948
- During the 1920s and 1930s maternal mortality rates were 50% higher in low-
income groups than the middle class
- 1906-10 IMR 14.3/1000 vs 12/1000 in 1936-38
- In the 1970s
o Working class women were 2x likely to die in childbirth compared to middle-
class
o Unskilled working men were twice as likely to die before the age of 65 than
middle-class professionals
- 60% of women gave births in hospitals in the 1950s compared to 97% in 1978
- LE of women rose from 70.1 in 1948 to 77 in 1979
- Middle-class areas 50% of GP surgeries were built after 1900 vs 20% in working
class areas
- LE of men rose from 65.8 to 71 1948-79
