ABSTRACT
A discussion of the role of the voluntary services in the welfare state is complicated by the fact that the word ‘voluntary’ has a triple meaning. It can mean voluntary as opposed to statutory; voluntary as opposed to professional; or voluntary as opposed to paid. The uses of the term overlap. In accordance with the image of the welfare state it was expected after the war that social services should be systematised and staffed by people who were adequately trained and paid. The image of systematised statutory welfare contrasted with the older images, on the one hand of the discriminating Poor Law, and on the other hand of Lady Bountiful who was usually well meaning but untrained, unpaid and associated with ill-organised nonstatutory agencies, or with no organisation at all.
