ABSTRACT

The Public Assistance Committees were still operating while starting World War II, and they continued to work all through the war; but the Unemployment Assistance Board (UAB) was, by 1939, fully operative. As a result the government's new duties, which included aid to people who had suffered as a result of the war, were handed to the UAB, which also, in 1940, took over the responsibility for supplementing the old age pension for those who needed it. Social insurance was handed over to a committee for examination, and the chairman chosen for the committee was Sir William Beveridge. Beveridge's main concern was to make sure that, if possible, the 'national assistance' which he postulated would be a residual service only. The needs of children were a recognized national liability for all. Similarly, a national health and rehabilitation service was to be available for all.