Labour Reforms - The Welfare State 1945-1951Reforms to address squalor
After World War Two the Labour Government introduced reforms to establish the Welfare State. These tackled ‘Five Giants’ described in the Beveridge Report.
twelve new towns were planned in order to reduce overcrowding
The limitations of this were:
the 1951 census revealed that there was approximately the same level of homelessness as in 1931
high demand for housing still existed
The video below details the poor housing in Scotland between 1880-1939.
Housing Act 1949
The successes of this were:
councils could buy houses in disrepair and make improvements
householders could apply for assistance to make improvements
The limitations of this were:
poor housing and homelessness were still serious problems at the end of the Labour administration in 1951 - there were 750,000 fewer houses than were required
