The beveridge report

The Beveridge Report and the welfare state

The concept of the welfare state refers to the state's provision of public measures and support to achieve basic living standards and help those in need across society. Ideally, the welfare state aims to relieve poverty, reduce inequality, and achieve greater social integration and solidarity.

The Beveridge Report was designed to counter the five giants of illness, ignorance, disease, squalor, and want. It considered the whole question of social insurance, arguing that want could be abolished by a system of social security organised for the individual by the state. Beveridge recommended the establishment of a national health service, national insurance and assistance, family allowances, and stressed the importance of full-employment.

Although not entirely as Beveridge wished, the measures were adopted and formed the basis of the British post-war Welfare State. Family allowances were enacted in 1945, and National Insurance and the National Health Service in 1946; full employment became government policy. Together, these developments created the welfare state, a system of social security guaranteeing a minimum level of health and social services.