South Yorkshire Times, September 30th 1944

A Great Step Forward

Having held the pass for a critical period in this greatest of wars Britain now proposes to attain lone eminence in another sphere with a social security plan which will be the envy of all other nations.  The White Paper published this week gives a notable lead in the creation of the brave new world for which the Allied powers are fighting, but primarily we are concerned with its national rather than its international implications.  After a lapse of nearly two years since the publication of the Beveridge Plan the attitude of those who had begun to express scepticism about its implementation could be understood if not condoned.

Obviously, however, the issue was much too fundamental for the Government to draw back once the public appetite had been whetted by a glimpse of just what social security might amount to in terms of pounds shillings and pence.  On the other hand, such a revolution in national economics could not be hurried. The Government had to decide how far they were prepared to keep company with Sir William Beveridge, and in the light of the White Paper proposals it must be admitted that they have accepted a good many more of the Beveridge precepts than the pessimists had anticipated.  In fact, the kernel of the Beveridge Report has been conceded with only those reservations which are reasonable and sensibly related to what is likely to be practicable.  Important differences such as the reduction of the retiring pension from 40s. to 35s. for a married couple but the inclusion of virtually all the aged at full pension rates from the start of the scheme, the limitation of the periods in which sickness and unemployment benefit will be paid, are all regularly the pension rates for widows and the cut in the Beveridge children’s allowances, are all cogently explained and in the main justified, despite the inevitable charges of parsimony which have already been levelled at the Government proposals.

Objections in detail remain to be hammered out and either conceded or disposed of in the House of Commons.  What is important is that a tremendous advance in the principle as well as the practice of national insurance is imminent. A historic effort to wipe out the scandal of want in a world which which offers enough and to spare for all reasonable human needs is beginning here in this country, which had already contributed so much to the democratic way of life as practiced, or aspired to, throughout the world.  Social security means the assurance to all members of the community of a reasonable subsistence level, despite the vagaries of twentieth century economic fluctuations. On this solid basis it ought to be possible to achieve a social structure in which every citizen is relieved of individual anxiety about his future without losing the incentive to exercise personal initiative.  The reasonable minimum standards of the White Paper leave plenty of scope for personal endeavour and in building on this solid foundation there is no stultifying means test to fear.  It is to be a universal compulsory scheme of insurance; a genuine corporate effort to create social stability.

Plainly the improved benefits offered are not to be had merely for the taking. The country must earn its highest standard of living by an all-round application to work and a heightened sense of communal responsibility. Labour troubles and the all-too frequent sequel of industrial stoppages could seriously hamper and even hamstring the establishment of the Government plan. When we remember that we are undertaking this vast new financial commitment (which will ultimately cost £831,000,000 a year as compared with the present cost of social insurance and allied services of £411,000,000) with our national coffers and credit depleted as they have never been depleted before, we shall realise  that security on this scale cannot be earned without commensurate effort steadfastly maintained through the coming years of reconstruction.