Beveridge Scheme

A WIDELY CIRCULATED report commissioned by the British government and named for its author, Sir William Henry Beveridge (1879–1963), the Beveridge Scheme outlined a social assistance plan to reduce poverty in postwar Britain. In spite of its limited implementation, the plan greatly influenced post-World War II British social welfare policy and the development of the modern welfare state. What became known as the Beveridge Report is drawn from the Social Insurance and Allied Services manuscript published in 1942, quickly receiving widespread approval.

In 1941, Beveridge, a prominent British economist and known social reformer, was commissioned to formulate policy recommendations that would alleviate poverty in postwar Britain. The Beveridge Committee was set up in response to the pressure for social reform at a time when Britain's military position during World War II remained uncertain and fears were increasing among the populace that the economy would collapse once the wartime stimulus ended.

The primary goal of the Beveridge Scheme entailed providing a subsistence level “below which no one should be allowed to fall” to all British families via a “socially just” welfare state. The cornerstone of his plan was a comprehensive system of social security for every citizen “from the cradle to the grave.” Specifically, Beveridge's intent was to ensure protection for all British citizens against the five giants of want, disease, ignorance, squalor, and idleness.

The key revolutionary objective of Beveridge's plan was the elimination of means testing and, in turn, establishing a system of social protection based solely on the principle of social insurance. Beveridge believed that benefits ought to be a universal right. His plan stipulated that all people of working age pay a weekly national insurance contribution.

This system of social protection would then grant flat-rate benefits to all citizens in case of sickness, unemployment, retirement, or widowhood. The Beveridge [Page 79]Report, however, did not include public works or employment programs.

Beveridge saw full employment (unemployment at no more than three percent) as pivotal to his social welfare regime and grounded his reform programs in previously developed social insurance measures. His plan was predicated on three assumptions: it would be accompanied by a general system of family allowances, a comprehensive national health service, and economic policy designed to maintain employment.

The Beveridge Report was well received and widely debated, yet never fully implemented. Between 1945 and 1948 the British Parliament passed legislation that constructed a universalistic welfare state. The legislation was enacted in large part because of Beveridge's recommendations, yet it differed significantly from the initial report. The legislation established a national minimum poverty level with national assistance playing a residual role to protect those who fell below the baseline. Above that minimum, an individual was free to provide extra benefits for himself and his family through savings, investments, or private insurance.

A fundamental aspect of the Beveridge Scheme was self-help through contributory insurance. Many historians and scholars have argued that this component proved more important in the development of 20thcentury state welfare in Britain than either philanthropic or state provision. Ultimately, the impact of the Beveridge Report was seen in the manner in which it focused political attention squarely on social security and the welfare state.

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