... William Beveridge's definition of the "Five Giants" can be used. These are the five main problems which he felt had to be dealt with in order to create a Welfare State. They were "Want, Squalor, Idleness, Disease and ignorance." To deal with the problem of "Want" Labour based their Act on Beveridge's own plan of action. This was the "Social Security System", where by all working people, of all classes would pay weekly contributions in to a state Insurance Fund. In return the people would receive cover in the form of sickness, medical, maternity, old age, unemployment, widow's, orphan's, industrial injury and funeral benefits. This was to cover any needs that a person could have from "the cradle to the grave" and was a very effective idea. When Labour took the idea they produced three pieces of legislation. These were the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act of 1946, the National ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now