Effectiveness of the Liberal Reforms

Effectiveness of the Liberal Reforms

Between 1900 and 1914 the British liberal government introduced the

largest series of reforms ever completed by a government till that

date. Prior to these reforms it was not considered the duty of the

government to provide any form of relief for the poor and when the

reforms were passed they were viewed as radical and amazing. Many

conservatives considered them unenforceable and many radicals

considered them far too small. Yet how effective were these reforms?

Prior to the reforms the only relief for children was either from

charities or the workhouse, and many liberals claimed that the

workhouses were worse than the conditions that many children had

previously lived in. The first liberal reform for children was an act

to allow schools to provide free school meals to those they felt

needed them. This act meant that children would receive at least one

meal a day and encourage them to attend school. The was voluntary

though and many schools did not spend their budgets providing these

meals. Only half of all schools set up these meal services. In 1907,

the liberals introduced medical care to schools; this act meant that

schools had to provide regular medical checks for children. These

checks were extended to medical care in 1912. The liberals also banned

the insuring of a child's life.

Before the reforms old people had to rely on their families or charity

to avoid the workhouse or total poverty. The liberals introduced an

old age pension for people over seventy years old and with no other

income. They also introduced a married couples pension. Pensions were

not a new thing but the most radical thing about these pensions was

that they were entirely government funded. The pension was not

incredibly large and the average working class person did not live to

be 70 but for those who did the pension made them independent. In the

year after the introduction 80000 people stopped claiming relief from

charities.

The unemployed and underemployed had been left to find work themselves