ABSTRACT
The Welfare State is an international phenomenon. Similar factors to those which operated in Britain have led to a growth of Government expenditure on the social services, both in total and in relation to national product. The greater role of social assistance in Britain, however, also reflects generally higher rates of assistance benefits than in many other countries, and hence a larger number of persons falling below the upper means limits of eligibility. This means that Britain comes out much more favourably in a comparison of minimum rates of social security benefit than it does in one of average rates. British rates of benefit relative to average earnings at that time compared very unfavourably with those in most of the other countries. This was more true in the case of single men than it was in that of married men with children, because Britain had fairly high dependants' allowances.
