ABSTRACT
With forty years’ experience of the operation of the post-Beveridge welfare state behind us, there is now a growing belief in the UK that the system as a whole is in need of deep and serious reform.
Increased questioning
Whatever gains it may have brought us, our welfare system is clearly failing to eliminate those giant evils of need, sickness, squalor, ignorance and idleness. Although living standards, housing, and the quality of public education and health might be far better today than Beveridge could dream of, they remain well below what we know is possible.
