Liberal Welfare Reforms - Limitations

Limitations

While the Liberal reforms were one of Britain's most ambitious welfare reform programmes, there were several limitations to the reforms they passed. Free school meals were not compulsory. Pensions were refused to those who had not been in work most of their life and life expectancy at this time was only 55 so many people never lived long enough to receive a pension. The labour exchange programme often managed to find people only part-time casual work. The poor had to pay National Insurance Contributions out of their wages and the 7s 6d was not enough to live on. Unemployment and sickness pay also only lasted for a limited time. Free medical care was available to only a wage-earner, not the wife or children or grandparents and other relatives. The new National Health Insurance scheme also did not provide coverage for all forms of medical care. It did not provide cover for special advice while many people could not get acquire dental, ophthalmic or other treatment through NHI. Also, other people were not covered for convalescent homes, while the only specialist services for those in NHI were for TB and VD. The welfare measures introduced by the Liberal government concerning the sick, the elderly, and the children did, however, lead to a reduction in poverty, with the total number of paupers falling from 916,377 in 1910 to 748,019 by 1914.