Beveridges social security

R. Preeti 30/10/2007 Beveridge’s Social Security William Beveridge is an English economist, who propounded the ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ Beveridge Report in 1942, that was inclusive of his take on social security. This report played an important role in helping the Labour Government, in paving way for a Welfare State, after the World war ll. His report was formulated with the aim of helping citizens with low income levels, to pave way for their well-being and a better standard of living.
Beveridge was a social reformer and aimed to bring about reform in the field of social insurance, that aimed at doing away with any form of interruption or inability in earning income among the masses and to pay way for social insurance to cater to special expenditure like marriage, birth and the like. ” There is world economy, but there is no world polity”. (Altiero Spinelli and Brit Federa: Writings by Bevirdige, Robbins and Spinelli)
The Beveridge Report is based on certain principles that put forth the cause of the lower strata of the society and social security. Firstly, the main principle underlines in the Report is that all the proposals for the establishment of a Welfare State and to promote the interests of the society, need to be unbiased and non-partisan. The proposals need to be commonly targeted and certainly not in the interest of a section of the society. Besides using past experience and knowledge in governance, proposals need to highlight the positive impact they would bring about, on the entire society, and not only the affluent strata.
Secondly, the Report highlighted that social insurance must be incorporated into the process of bringing about social welfare. Social insurance can help a great deal in stabilising one’s income and it thus brings about social security by satisfying ‘wants’. Thus, social welfare is incomplete without social insurance. ” The etrms welfare might be more readily associated with the frustrations of dealing with a benefits office, or with the suspicion that sometimes poverty is made worse by the welfare system, rather than relieved by it.” (Social Policy by Ken Blakemore)
Thirdly, the Report highlighted the need for a cooperative operation between the individual and the state, in order to achieve the desired end of social welfare, through social insurance. He felt that the State should offer no opportunity for the individual to take up other means of income, and must provide adequate opportunities and security fo service for the individual to grow and experience social security.
Thus, the Beveridge Report laid down an interactive working of the Government, whose end was the welfare of the society as a whole, and not to give in to sectional interests. It is a fine mixture of carrying forward operations, on the basis of experience and societal conventions for the larger good of the society. Thus the Beveridge Report was instrumental in paving way for the concept of welfare society to be taken up by the labour Government in power.
References
Maps for the National Plan. A Background to the Barlow, the Scott and the Beveridge Report, Lund Humphries, 1940.
Karl De Schweinitz, ‘England’s road to social security: From the Statute of labourers in 1349 to the Beveridge report of 1942’, Barnes, 1961.
G. D. H. Cole, ‘Beveridge explained: What the Beveridge report on social security means’, New Statesman and nation, 1942.
Social Insurance and Allied Servcies: Memoranda from organisations: Appendix G to Report by Sir William Beveridge, HMSO. 1942.
Ken Blakemore, ‘Social Policy’, Open University Press.
Executive Summary of the Beveridge Report, Website: http://www. sochealth. co. uk/history/beveridge. htm