THE LIBERAL SOCIAL REFORMS
...ivate children’s homes were to be inspected, juvenile courts were established and restrictions were placed on children entering a public house or buying cigarettes. None of these acts actually did anything to help the child education. The poverty of the elderly had caused many people to look for alternatives to the Poor Law. In 1908 The Liberals responded with the non-contributory Old Age Pensions Act. This gave a maximum of five shillings per week to people over seventy, however this age was very high for people at that time and five shillings was barely enough to live on so this did not solve the problem fully. Churchill acknowledged that the government had “Not pretended to carry the toiler to dry land. What we have done is strap a lifebelt around him.” Minimum wages for the sweated industry was established in 1909 as part of the Trade Boards Act. As well as this, the Workmen’s Compensation Act in 1906 gave compensation for injuries sustained at work and the Shops Act in 1911 gave shop assistants a half-day. The National Insurance Act part one in 1911 was compulsory for all workers between 16 and 70 earning under £160 a year and meant they were entitled to free medical treatment and sick pay. The compulsory participation on the part of the workers led to bitterness which was amplified due to the fact that everyone paid the same so the poorest workers suffered the greatest by loosing the most. Also sickness benefits only applied to the person insured but not their family. When faced with an unemployment crisis in 1908 the Liberals had no other option other than to take some action. So in 1909 they passed the Labour Exchanges Act whose foremost intension was to help the unemployed find work and ...