Victor George - Social Security: Beveridge and After

First published in 1968 by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Reprinted in 1998 by Routledge

This edition first published in 2019
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1968 V. George

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ISBN: 978-1-138-61373-7 (Set)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45813-2 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-60119-2 (Volume 4) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-47026-4 (Volume 4) (ebk)

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SOME years ago I expressed the view that the Welfare State in Britain had become a hotchpotch of administrative units, a tangle of legislative complexity and a jungle of vested interests. I regret to say that I still hold this view, and it seems to me that we are in great danger of making our social services so complicated as to be unintelligible even to well-educated citizens. Social security, which is one of our major social services, is now so elaborate and complex that not many of us can fully understand the benefits it provides and the obligations and duties it imposes on us. I am, therefore, delighted that Mr. Victor George has undertaken the task of analysing and describing the system of social security in this country in such an interesting and readable manner.

One of the main problems facing anyone who attempts to write about social security is where to begin. Most writers have adopted an historical approach tracing the evolution of social security through the hundreds of years since the Poor Law was first enacted. Much as I approve of the view that to understand the present we need to know the past, the explosion in the growth of knowledge in modern times requires specialisation of topics within fields of study. I am glad therefore that Mr. George has concentrated on the development of social security in this country since the publication of the Beveridge report.

Now that our system of Social Security has been administratively unified within the Ministry of Social Security it is appropriate that an examination should be made of the extent to which the original proposals of Lord Beveridge have been modified over time. There are many ways in which such an examination could have been made and the results recorded. For example, each new act or regulation could have been dissected in great detail and the results laboriously and drearily recorded for us to read. Mr. George has avoided this pitfall and instead has adopted an interesting functional approach which brings out clearly and concisely the essential principles and elements in this complicated field of social provision.

I am sure that students and the general reader will find this book to be of real value, and despite the fact that social legislation changes so rapidly these days, it will continue to provide a firm foundation for an understanding of social security for some time ahead.

DAVID C. MARSH

THIS book is concerned with the development of social security in this country from the Beveridge Report onwards and it is aimed mainly at social science students and social work students. References to the 1930s and earlier or to social security provisions in other countries are made with the sole intention of illuminating the events that make up the central theme of the book. Broadly, the book examines first the recommendations of the Beveridge Report and how and why they were or were not implemented in the immediate post-war years; second the development of social security during the 20-year period covered by the book; and third it attempts briefly to look at some of the possible changes in social security in the future. The general problems affecting all social security benefits, e.g. their scope as regards persons, risks and level of benefits, the administrative machinery and the financial considerations, are discussed in the first four chapters. Individual social security benefits are discussed in chapters five to twelve. An attempt is made to discuss these benefits in relation to other related social services and to occupational fringe benefits. Inevitably I had to look at the details of social security legislation and at the extent to which benefits have been used by the general public. This necessitated some detailed discussion and the presentation of statistical information which some readers may find rather heavy going. The final chapter examines briefly the current discussion on the role of the state in social security provision.

I am indebted to Professor D. C. Marsh who encouraged me to write the book and who read the manuscript and made valuable suggestions; to Mr B. Hughes, of the Ministry of Social Security, who also read the manuscript and helped me with some of the recent changes in social security legislation; and to my wife, Enid George, who typed the manuscript and whose forbearance and constant criticism have been invaluable to me.

V. GEORGE