Poverty and the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State in Britain, 1900 to the Present

Poverty in the UK has recently risen to levels and created conditions not seen since c.1900. Then, the poverty revealed in major surveys by Booth and Rowntree created shock and proposals for change leading to the first measures of what became the Welfare State. Then, as now, a major cause of poverty was inadequate pay for precarious work, though another significant cause now is the decline of the Welfare State. State welfare expanded gradually from 1906 to 1945, then much faster, along with full employment and labour market regulation, especially under Labour governments until the late 1970s. Poverty declined but never disappeared. Under Thatcher’s Conservative government, 1979–1990, state welfare was severely cut and poverty shot up. After some respite under New Labour, 1997–2010, a period of successive Conservative governments since 2010 has witnessed significant cuts to social welfare and an increase in poverty causing serious deprivation comparable with the early 1900s. But there are fewer proposals for reform now than then, though they are urgently needed.