The Beveridge Report, 75 years on. Slaying the 'five giants': past, present and future

The Royal Statistical Society(RSS) and the Nuffield Foundation have jointly staged this event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of the Beveridge Report - the foundation-stone of Britain’s post-war welfare state.

Its author, William Beveridge, sought to address the ‘five giants’ which, in his view, threatened the UK’s post-war reconstruction - namely ‘want’, ‘ignorance’, ‘disease’, ‘squalor’ and ‘idleness’.

Beveridge was then RSS’s President. His report was based on a huge amount of statistical evidence and is often seen as an example of evidence-based policy-making at its best. The implementation of the Beveridge Report led to, for example, the creation of the National Health Service.

This RSS / Nuffield Foundation event was based around a keynote lecture by a former Health Secretary, Rt Hon Alan Milburn, who now chairs the Social Mobility Commission.

[arthurfrancisd.murphy]

The more i hear this lecture the astute his analysis seems.

[kimkimpa]

Tell the crew to push the whopper button!

[mks]

The truth of modern poverty is enraging even as a devout thatcherite the only mistake was the lack of more social house building to be further privatised.

[arthurfrancisd.murphy]

many ways and so importamt to remember this story.