The Rise and Fall of the British Welfare State : Bloomsbury Academic : 9781350414426 : 1350414425 : 17 Oct 2024 : For the past decade at least 25% of the UK population and 30% of children have been in poverty by internationally accepted measures, and the numbers keep rising. In The Rise and Fall of the British Welfare State, Pat Thane analyses the history of state welfare in Britain from 1900, and sheds light on its aims, achievements, and failings. Beginning with the poverty surveys of Booth and Rowntree, and the implementation of early welfare measures such as free school meals, Thane offers a vivid snapshot of social welfare in Britain c1900, and the growing demands for improved welfare provisions. Taking readers through the significant social reforms of the First and Second World Wars, the making of the modern welfare state 1945-51, and its subsequent shifts due to rapidly evolving social policies. Thane ends with austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the scholarship up to