1.2.2 Problems with implementation Writing a report is one thing – getting it implemented as policy is another. In the full version of An Introduction to the Beveridge Report, Jacobs (1992a) makes clear that there were a number of departures from the blueprint when the Labour government came to steering the legislation through parliament. One was a move to greater generosity. The report had recommended that the new pensions should be phased in over a period of 20 years to allow people to build up their contributions.
1.2.1 The Beveridge report The architect of much of this reform in the field of social welfare was William Beveridge. His report entitled ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ was compiled as the war was at its height (Beveridge, 1942). In it Beveridge set out a plan to put an end to what he called the ‘five giants’ – Want (today we would call it poverty), Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness (unemployment). The centrepiece was a state-run system of compulsory insurance. Every worker, by contribut
2: Moral dilemmas It is clear from the account of Jim and Marianne's lives that they need some help. But do they deserve help? Some of our course testers had very strong reactions to the inclusion of drug users in a course about health and social care. Here is one typical response: I am not sure that Jim and Marianne and people like them deserve this sort of attention. Their problems were self-inflicted. It must have cost someone (w References 1.4.13 Defining a ‘good death’ 1.2.8 Caroline Caroline’s experience was rather different. She was brought face to face with death when she was involved in a fatal car accident. Her friend who was driving at the time was killed outright whilst Caroline escaped unhurt. She found the reality of this difficult to assimilate and felt a sense of guilt. For a long time after the accident – several months – I kept replaying it over and over again in my mind and 1.2.7 Margaret Margaret was in her thirties when she learnt she had breast cancer. Some three years later, after the removal of the affected breast, she was leading a very busy life working full-time at the Open University, studying part-time for an OU degree and running a family. Fitness activities such as jogging and various sports had become very important in her life. She was also very involved in cancer research fundraising activities. She described the impact of her brush with death in this way: 1.8.1 The experience of Hillsborough We have explored the challenges of entering into situations which are ambiguous and open to competing interpretations. But what happens in a situation where nobody knows what is going on, where established meanings have collapsed altogether? Tom Heller gives a graphic account of such a situation in his description of his experience of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster. Click on 'view document' below to read Tom Heller's account of his experiences at Hillsborough. 1.6.4 Difficult communications Audio: click below to listen further to Dev's visit to the Durrant's home.