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William Beveridge
Historical figureUnited Kingdom1879-1963

William Beveridge

Author of the Beveridge Report (1942) · Director of the London School of Economics (1919-1937)

Liberal economist and reformer whose 1942 report named five great evils and became the plan behind Britain's postwar welfare state.

Compare yourself See the 12 scores
Profile on 12 axes5 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

William Beveridge, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership-20
    PublicPrivate

    He wrote on economic planning in a socialist setting, but he was a Liberal candidate and nationalisation was not central for him. He leans only a little toward public ownership.

  2. 02Markets-35
    PlannedFree

    He held that the state, answerable to voters, should be responsible for demand and jobs, and yet he remained a Liberal. He leans moderately toward regulation.

  3. 03Welfare-60
    SharedSelf-reliant

    His plan was compulsory and universal, with flat benefits funded by three parties: workers, employers and the government. The aim was to abolish want while keeping a reason to work. He leans toward shared provision, but less firmly than Labour's Bevan.

  4. 04Authority-30
    DemocraticStrong leader
  5. 05SecurityNo clear record
    LibertyOrder

    He held eugenic views, including a 1909 idea of taking civil rights from men who could not work. They never added up to a steady stance on civil liberty, so this axis is left blank, as are others beyond his social policy.

  6. 06Structure+40
    LocalCentral

    The labour exchanges and insurance systems he designed were national and run from the centre, so he leans central.

  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional
  8. 08ReligionNo clear record
    SecularReligious
  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10CultureNo clear record
    MulticulturalNational identity
  11. 11TradeNo clear record
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policyNo clear record
    CooperationStrength

7 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was William Beveridge?

William Beveridge was born in Bengal in 1879. His father served there as a judge. At Oxford he read at Balliol, and after qualifying in law he found his calling in social reform through Toynbee Hall in London. In the years before 1914 he advised the Liberal government and helped build labour exchanges and the first national insurance. From 1919 to 1937 he directed the LSE, and after that he headed University College, Oxford. A wartime committee on social services was handed to him in 1941. Its report, published in December 1942, became a bestseller. He was elected a Liberal MP in 1944, lost in 1945, and moved to the Lords in 1946. Attlee's government built much of the welfare state on what he proposed.

Political views

  • Said postwar Britain must beat five giants: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.Source: bbc.co.uk
  • Proposed one national insurance system with flat-rate basic payments in sickness, unemployment and old age, ending the reliance on means tests.Source: lse.ac.uk
  • Took it as given that his scheme would only work alongside a health service, family allowances and high employment.Source: lse.ac.uk
  • His 1944 book on full employment said the state, under democratic control, had to keep demand and jobs steady.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Before 1914, set up the labour exchanges and the first insurance scheme for the Liberal government.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Helped found a body in 1933 to rescue academics whom the Nazis had dismissed.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Many call Beveridge a founder of Britain's welfare state. A poll at the time found 86 per cent of people in favour of his plans. Admirers in every party say he turned a patchwork of charity and means tests into social security as a right. Right-wing critics said the bill was too high. Later critics noted that the scheme took a male breadwinner for granted and cut married women's access to benefits. He had also joined the Eugenics Society, and in 1909 he suggested that men who could not work should lose their civil rights. Historians treat that as a serious blot, though they disagree over its effect on the 1942 report.

In their own words

“A revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.”
Social Insurance and Allied Services (the Beveridge Report), 1942

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William Beveridge: questions

What did the Beveridge Report say?

The 1942 report, called Social Insurance and Allied Services, urged one universal insurance scheme to attack five giants: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. It became the base of the postwar welfare state.

Was William Beveridge a socialist?

No. He was a Liberal, not a Labour man. He wanted a safety net and state duty for full employment, but he did not make public ownership a central aim.

Which party was William Beveridge in?

A Liberal. He sat for Berwick-upon-Tweed as a Liberal MP in 1944-1945, and afterwards he led the Liberal peers in the Lords.

Sources