The Beveridge Report Blueprint for the Welfare State

This book provides the definitive account of the making of the 1942 Beveridge Report and its influence on wartime and post-war social policy. The Beveridge Report: Blueprint for the Welfare State aims to offer a definitive analysis of the famous document, so influential in the founding of the Welfare State and the National Health Service, which still resonates in current debates about ‘getting back to Beveridge’ and a ‘Beveridge for the 21st Century’.
It is based on extensive research into the papers of the Beveridge Committee, official Government archives and the papers of contemporary politicians and groups. Published to coincide with the Report’s 80th anniversary, the book is treated as a case study in policy formulation during the 1940s.

Key features of the book include

• The first systematic review and assessment of the work of the Beveridge Committee and the evidence submitted to it
• Detailed analysis of the enthusiastic reception of the Report and the government’s lukewarm attitude
• A full survey of the detailed planning for welfare reform and Beveridge’s role when excluded from it
• An assessment of the influence of Beveridge upon the creation of the Welfare State by Attlee’s Labour Government

This important book will be of interest to scholars of twentieth-century British, social history, political history and contemporary politics and comparative health and education systems.

Derek Fraser is Emeritus Professor at the University of Teesside, where he served as Vice-Chancellor for 11 years.