Social insurance and allied services : memorandum on the Beveridge Report

1943-02-10 1943 1940s 24 pages 14. that the first fundamental principle of his plan is the provision of a flat rate of insurance benefit and he includes that principle in the Resolutions which he suggests (page 168) that Parliament should meanwhile adopt. It is therefore clear that if, through fi...

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Institution:MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Language:English
English
Published: 10 February 1943
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FA44536F-0CD9-47A7-89AD-5EEEAB0EAEA0
http://hdl.handle.net/10796/AE0F9B7F-09EF-4D96-9242-1C80D998C6FE
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Summary:1943-02-10 1943 1940s 24 pages 14. that the first fundamental principle of his plan is the provision of a flat rate of insurance benefit and he includes that principle in the Resolutions which he suggests (page 168) that Parliament should meanwhile adopt. It is therefore clear that if, through financial stringency or other cause, that flat rate had to be reduced, those in want would have to receive less than subsistence in order that those not in want might receive the same uniform benefit. The possibility of such an eventuality clearly makes it essential that the Government, before committing itself in advance to such a far-reaching principle, should carefully examine how far the post-war economic and trading ability of this country can be expected to meet the cost of the "Beveridge" plan in addition to such other post-war obligations as it is already committed to, or may decide to undertake. IV. POST-WAR ECONOMIC AND TRADING POSITION: (45) It is not possible to predict what the economic and trading position of this country will be after this war. Many of the vital factors which will determine it are not in this country's own control. Apart altogether from the length of the war and the ultimate impoverishment it may leave in its wake throughout the world, the post-war position of this country will depend essentially on such imponderable factors as our post-war political and trading relationships with other countries, the total burden of our ultimate national debt and the financial and fiscal policies of our own and other countries including in particular, the U.S.A. and Russia. (46) We have no right to assume that these factors will all be settled just on the lines which happen to suit us. The only fair attitude to adopt, in contemplating our post-war position, as we see it, is that it would be wrong to start out with the conception that the ingenuity and resource of this country will be defeated by it, and it would be equally wrong to take for granted that this country can commit itself to further onerous financial burdens regardless of the consequences and that it can surmount whatever difficulties may confront it. (47) In this whole nutter, one thing is certain and that is that it is upon this country's/ 200/B/3/2/C216/5/50
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