I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it
is largely a waste of time. - H. L. Mencken.
Pauvreté et inégalités en Grande-Bretagne de 1942 à 1990
CHRONOLOGIE-
| Nous devons ce document à
la gentillesse de Caroline B., des amis de la région de Toulouse, et des collègues
candidats de la liste de discussion agreg-anglais. Il ont malheureusement eu à déplorer des contradictions sur certaines dates entre les ouvrages publiés sur la question,
les cours cned, les cours fac...
Merci pour votre générosité et votre courage. Fingers nattés pour le 23 mars. JS, 17 mars 01. ------ Coalition Sir Winston Churchill - 1940-45 1942 Social Insurance and Allied Services (Beveridge Report) : Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer told Churchill it would cost too much. Beveridge = a Fabian Liberal. social services were not set up to reduce significantly social divisions but to open up greater opportunities and to alleviate the worst forms of suffering from the five Giants (want, ignorance, squalor, disease, idleness). Beveridge insistait sur la dimension mutualiste (financement aux 2/3 par les employeurs et les salariés, le reste par l¥Etat. Le Welfare State mis en place par les travaillistes = essntiellement financement par l¥impôt, donc alourdissement de la ponction fiscale) 1944 White Paper : A National Health Service, Employment Policy and Social Insurance, qui jette les bases d'un système national de santé, du principe du plein emploi et de l'intervention de l'Etat dans le domaine social. 1944 Butler Education Act : a national system, a free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 15. (Butler = Conservative, 1st Minister of Education). (Creation of Local Education Authorities in 1902 Balfour Act). Very decentralised. - 11+ exam : simple mathematics, English and IQ test - on the basis of this exam, children went into 3 types of school (°Tripartite system¥): 30% in grammar schools ; 10% in technical schools ; 60% in secondary modern schools LABOUR 1945-1951 - Clement Atlee 1945 National Elections : Labour=>47,8% ; Conservatives=>39,8% 1945 Family Allowances Act : no means test ; financed out of taxation1945. création d'un système d'allocations familiales qui sont directement versées à la mère. 1946 National Insurance Act : Social security ; pensions and unemployment. A minimum number of contributions is necessary to qualify for benefits. création de la sécurité sociale, financée par les contributions obligatoires des agents économiques (employeurs et salariés) et de l'Etat. Cette loi pose les bases de ce que l'on appelle le Welfare State (assurance vieillesse, maladie, chômage, etc.). 1946 NHS Act : Négociée par Aneurin Bevan, ministre de la Santé, avec les médecins, cette loi établit le principe de soins médicaux gratuits pour tous. L'offre de soins est nationalisée, même si les médecins conservent la possibilité d'exercer à titre privé dans les hôpitaux (pay-beds). Les collectivités locales sont chargées de mettre en place les services sociaux destinés aux handicapés, aux personnes âgées, aux familles en difficulté. 1946 : 55,400 new houses built 1946 and 1949 Rent Control Acts : to protect the interests of private landlords¥ tenants 1946 -1949 Housing Acts : slum clearance ; modern amenities ; good quality houses + prefabs ; financed jointly by central government, local rates & tenants¥ rent. Local Authorities were in complete control of all stages : Compulsory Purchase Orders (to demolish slums), Direct Work Department (travaux publics), built the council flats and estates, selected the tenants according to a points system. A ceiling set on rents, to improve equality between different classes. Not enough workers =>immigrants. privilégie le logement collectif sur l¥habitat individuel. 1946 New Towns Act Décongestion des grandes agglomérations par construction de cités satellites 1947 : 139,690 new houses built 1947 : financial crisis which will result in fewer houses after 1948. 1948 : 227,616 new houses built + flats or prefabs = 284,230 (between 1945-1950 : 157,000 prefabs built) 1948 Creation of the NHS (or rather, INAUGURATION of the Service on July 5th 1948) (Bevan) the costs were seriously underestimated. nationalisation de tous les hôpitaux. traitements gratuits pour soins médicaux (+dentaires +ophtalmologiques). financement par l¥impôt à 77% et oui par les cotisations des bénéficiaires. Le secteur privé continue d¥exister mais est très restreint. 1948 National Assistance Act: it legally abolished the Poor Law. Ensemble de mesures concernant l'aide aux nécessiteux (aide au logement, allocation pour familles nombreuses, etc.). assistance publique administrée à l¥échelle nationale et non plus locale, financée par l¥impôt national sur le revenu (tax), et non pas les impôts locaux. It established a National Assistance Board whose regional areas officers administered a personal means test for those who applied for relief. 1948 British Nationality Act : Any person born in the UK or one of its colonies or who was a Commonwealth citizen was entitled to a British passport as well as the legal right to work and to settle in the UK.donnait le droit aux habitants du " Nouveau Commonwealth " de s¥installer dans les régions les + actives économiquement. Ils n¥ont pas droit aux council houses. 1949 devant l¥inflation des coûts du NHS, on impose une franchise (charge) sur certains actes médicaux (application dès 1952). 1949 : 217,240 new houses built 1950 : 210,253 1951 : 204,117 1951 (Avril) Démission d'Aneurin Bevan, Jenny Lee et Harold Wilson à propos du remboursement des dentiers et des lunettes CONSERVATIVE 1951-1963 (Churchill 1951-55/Anthony Eden Earl of Avon 1955-57/Harold Macmillan Earl of Stockton1957-63/Alec Douglas-Home (prononcer "hium"), 1963-64 1954 end of rationing 1954 tensions inter-raciales à Camden Town 1955 Abolition of the Development Charge (introduced by Labour in 1945?) : anybody buying land to profit from the fact that the community needed it and selling it at a higher price used to be taxed on the profit they made by selling this land. 1956 The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland: in this book, he argued that socialism was about equality rather than public ownership à anti-nationalization As Minister of Education, he issued a ministerial circular to all LEAs in 1965: Circular 10/65 1957 Rent Act autorise les propriétaires à augmenter leurs loyers s¥ils entretiennent leurs propriétés. 1957 The Family Life of Old People Peter Townsend 1958 London race riot in Notting Hill + quartier St Ann à Nottingham, in both cases, gangs of white youths and fascists violently attacked Blacks on the streets, with one person of Afro-Caribbean origin being murdered. 1961, the Macmillan government announced that they would control the levels of Commonwealth immigration=>dramatic increase of immigration in 1961, for fear of the laws to come. 1958 Galbraith parle d¥affluent society. But affluence among the working class was the result of hire-purchase arrangements rather than greater wealth. The real beneficiaries of the affluent society were those who had money to invest. 1959 Gaitskell tente de faire abolir la Clause 4 (il est le leader du Labour Party de 1955 à 1963). Barbara Castle est une ardente °défenseuse¥ ( ?) de la clause 4 et se mobilise contre le projet de " civiliser le capitalisme ". 1958 : 20,000 Indians and Pakistanis enter the country 1959: 58,100 1960: 115,150 (rumours of restrictive legislation to come made the figures increase.) 1960 Local Employment Act promouvoir l¥emploi dans les régions touchées par le chômage 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act - criticized for setting up a colour bar, since it put in place a system of quotas on the number of coloured people allowed to immigrate. - bureaucratic measures like °work permits¥ - said they would not accept more immigrants than needed. (skilled workers would be accepted, Enoch Powell, for example, at the Ministry of Health, was anxious to secure as many overseas nurses and doctors as possible to support an expansion of the health service.) The Bill gave rise to great political controversy. Labour and Liberal condemned it as a racialist piece of legislation ("colour bar") à for example, immigration limit was not imposed on WHITE unskilled Irish (from the republic). Working-class opinion polls showed that people supported the Government¥s measures (according to a Gallup opinion poll the legislation met with the approval of approximatly 90% of the population)à thus when Labour came back to power, they did nothing to repeal this legislation. They even made it stricter in the 1968 Race Relations Act 1962 Family & Kinship in East London by Michael Young and Peter Willmott. About the effects on the family unit of the movement of the working-class people from the city to the housing estates on the outskirts of the city in the 1950s (destroys the social cohesion between three generations helping each other) 1963 Contracts of Employment Act contrat de travail obligatoire 1963 Newson Report (éducation dans le secondaire) 1963 Robbins Report : denounced the lack of technological education. As a result of this report, 9 Colleges of Advanced Technology (CAT) were built. Over the Conservative period, much energy was devoted to maintaining Britain as a world power, whatever the cost to the economy. Thus they did not want to pay for new hospitals, new prisons (none was built in the fifties), etc. However, there were criticisms in the early sixties, and the Government realized this: in 1961 they built four new universities, and in 1963 they accepted the Robbins Report and promised to found six more. Likewise in 1962 the Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, announced that ninety new hospitals would be built in the next ten years (£500 million). But they had no time. LABOUR 1964-1970 (Wilson) 1964 abolition of prescription charges in the NHS (reintroduced in 1968) 1964 accélération de la construction de logements sociaux ; réintroduction du contrôle des loyers pour mettre fin aux abus. 1964 Married Women¥s property Act en cas de divorce, la moitié de ce qui avait été acquis durant le mariage est donné à l¥épouse. 1965 creation of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) by Peter Townsend and B. Abel-Smith. Produced regular studies of poverty among children. 1965 The Poor and the Poorest Abel-Smith et Townsend. 1966-68, quartier de St Ann à Nottingham promis à la démolition. redécouverte de la pauvreté. retraités + familles nombreuses vivent dans un extrême dénuement. Puis, en 1980, est publiée une enquête portant sur des interviews faites en 1976 : Beyond The Buldozer :" In the 1961Census, the density in the population of Nottingham was recorded as 17 per cent per acre. That of St Ann¥s Ward was 62,2 per acre. " 1965 Circular 10/65 (Anthony Crosland) encouraging them to convert their secondary schools into comprehensive schools (l¥école secondaire unique¥). Comprehensive school = all children from a particular area (catchment area) go to the same school. The Circular left a lot of freedom to the LEAs. It had become clear that the system was reproducing class divisions. Social selection rather than intellectual selection. (1976 Labour made it compulsory to go comprehensive) 1965 White Paper Immigration from the Commonwealth tightened up the restrictions on Commonwealth immigration by reducing the number of work vouchers. Alongside these controls, the government felt the need to introduce the the means to ensure greater integration and to combat racial discrimination=> Race Relations Bill 1965 Race Relations Act: beginning of a government policy to provide a certain degree of equality and justice for immigrants. (Race, Community and Conflict by John Rex & Robert Moore =>how different communities compete for housing. Main subject of conflict: housing, not employment.) rend illégale toute forme de discrimination de type racial. Creation of the Race Relations Board (for complaints). Roy Jenkins¥ (Home Secretary) definition of integration, 1965 : " Not a flattening process of assimilation, but...equal opportunity, accompanied by cultural diversity, in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance. " => en réalité, le Board ne dispose pas de moyens pour poursuivre les personnes accusés de discrimination. La situation ne s¥arrange pas 1965 Redundancy Payments Act institue des indemnités de licenciement. (si on a travaillé pendant 2 ans. 1 somme en 1 fois) 1965 Trade Disputes Act rendait de nouveau légales tout type de grèves de solidarité (du coup le nombre d¥action explosa de manière considérable) 1965 Abolition de la peine de mort 1966 création de Shelter 1966 Relative Deprivation and Social Justice W.G.Runciman distingue differents groupes à l¥intérieur de la culture de la pauvreté qui, pour lui a des similitudes avec les groupes des non-pauvres, dans le fonctionnement qui permet un impact plus grand des syndicalistes. la Visoin de la " culture de la pauvreté " condamne l¥ensemble de la communauté à l¥immobilisme et à la perpétuation de la condition des victimes. Runciman, tout comme Coates et Silburn affirme que les causes de la pauvreté sont structurelles et non culturelles. Les solutions ne relèvent pas de la responsabilité personnelle des individus, mais de celle des collectivités : elles sont de nature politique. 1966 the payment of benefits became earnings-related. As wages went up, so the payments would go up. 1967 Creation of the Urban Programme (UP) and the Community Development Project(CDP) Based on the assumption that urban deprivation represented residual pockets of poverty. means-tested benefit. Too punctual. (conclusion in the 70s : real problem = unemployment). It then became evident in the 70s that poverty was not confined to particular geographical zones which could be improved by targeting poverty. But poverty = linked with persistent inequalities in British society) 1967 dévaluation de la livre sterling 1967/68 réintroduction des prescription charges 1967 Plowden Report : Children & their Primary School : - revealed a type of inequality affecting people in urban areas : overcrowding, bad conditions of living ; lack of educational success - suggested the creation of Educational Priority Areas (E.P.A.) as a kind of positive discrimination ; correlated certain social symptoms with certain geographical areas. 1st occasion recognised the existence of a particular problem in a particular area. End of universal belief; special treatment. - The E.P.As were given 10 million pounds to improve buildings, to reduce the number of pupils per class to 30. 1967 Abortion Act (legalization) 1967 House Condition Survey révèle l'ampleur du mal-logement, prise de conscience générale. 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Bill (1st of March) en conséquence de l¥arrivée de 7000 Kenyan Asians in the UK in 1967 and 1968 (process of Africanisation forcing non-Africans out of work and to flee). Pour obtenir le UK passport, il faut désormais avoir au moins un parent ou grand-parent né au Royaume-Uni. Pas de problème pour les blancs mais très embêtant pour les noirs ou " coloured " du Commonwealth. Le nombre de work vouchers est encore réduit. 1968 Race Relations Bill is passed (23rd of April) qui accompagne le Commonwealth Immigration Bill. Rend illégale toute discrimination " on the ground of colour, race, ethnic or national origin in the provision of goods, facilities, housing, accomodation or land ". Race Relations Board is given more power. Mais une étude des années 70 montre la frustration de nombreux noirs qui expliquent qu¥il était pratiquement impossible d'apporter des preuves d'actes de discrimination devant le Race Relations Board. 1968 Enoch Powell¥s Birmingham speech. known as the °river of blood¥ speech (Martin Luther King vient d¥être assassiné aux USA, le 4 avril 1968)(20 avril, trois jours avant la seconde lecture à la Chambre des Communes de la Race Relations Bill) Powell was Shadow Defence Minister. The language was emotional: "As I look ahead I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood." Powell was dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet, but received 100,000 letters of support. It was against this background that the Race Relations Bill was debated. The 1968 Act extended that of 1965 by banning discrimination in housing, employment, insurance and other services. A final piece of legislation in this field was enacted in 1969 with the Immigration Appeals Bill which set up an Immigration Appeal Tribunal to hear appeals against decisions taken in the administration of immigration control. 1968 The Children of Sanchez Oscar Lewis 1968 Seebohm Report on local and allied personal services 1968 : Ronan Point : Tower block in East London where a massive gas explosion shocked the nation into reviewing its housing policy. 1969 In Place of Strife (White Paper, Barbara Castle) industrial relations Bill to Parliament pour restreindre le pouvoir des syndicats. le Bill fut refusé. Il obligeait un vote (ballots) avant toute grève risquant de menacer l¥économie et demandait linstauration d¥une " conciliation pause of 28 days ". 1970 Open University : - modern means of teaching : TVs, radios, tutors, summer courses. - a well-organised attempt to have people go to University eventhough they had an active life. (middle-class people took advantage of it, rather than working-class). - New University : before, 1.Oxford/Cambridge (prestigious), 2. Civic Universities (°red-brick¥) beg of the XXth century 3. New University : based on the model of Oxbridge. located outside small or middle-sized country-towns (Sussex= Oxbridge by the sea). Islands of Culture. life on the campus. Increased opportunities to go to University. 1970 1 britannique sur 2 est propriétaire de son logement 1970 Poverty : The Forgotten Englishman by K.Coates & R.Silburn study of Notthingham. (rediscovery of poverty =>belief that poverty still existed but was residual : children ; old people ; North-East of England ;Liverpool ; South Wales ; ship-building/textiles) sur une étude faite en 1967-68 1970 Equal Pay Act introduced by Barbara Castle, lays down the principle of the same wages for the same work. The Act came fully into force in january 1976. laissait 5 ans aux employeurs pour ajuster les salaires. On the opening day of the Labour Party conference, Barbara Castle announced that the Government would introduce legislation to provide for equal pay for women. By the end of 1975, it would be illegal to discriminate against women in rates of pay. CONSERVATIVE 1970-1974 (Heath=sharp turn to the right) 1971 fondation du Gay Liberation Front (GLF) 1971 Suppression de la distribution gratuite de lait dans les écoles. (Thatcher : the "milk snatcher") 1971 Immigration Bill ended the distinction between Commonwealth immigrants and others. Employment vouchers were replaced by one-year work permits which could be renewed but no guarantee. Tougher sanctions for illegal immigrants 1972 White Paper : National Health Service Reorganisation, England : - a unified approach (social need is complex, it can rarely be divided so that each part is dealt with by a different service) - encouraging use (information on the different benefits + how to obtain them) - training staff (because of Seebohm Report 1968) - Growth in private health schemes B.U.P.A. started (National health insurance organisation) quality of the NHS beginning to decline 1972 Race Relations Act 1973 choc pétrolier 1973-74 réforme administrative du NHS => dont la principale caractéristique fut de nourrir une intense bureaucratie. 1972 Industrial Relations bill anti-union 1973 choc pétrolier 1974 Miners on strike =>Labour proposes a °Social Contract¥ between the government and the Trade Unions Heath fit voter une loi instaurant le Family Income Supplement (FIS) : une allocation permettant de combler le poverty trap à hauteur de moitié, l¥autre moitié pouvant l¥être par des subventions en nature, telle la gratuité de la cantine scolaire. LABOUR 1974-1978 (74-76 Wilson / 76-78 Callaghan) Une politique keynésienne est rendue plus difficile par la mondialisation croissante des échanges qui fait obstacle à une gestion nationale de la demande. sous le 2ème gvt Wilson, le taux maximum de l¥impôt sur le revenu atteignit 83% ! ! ! 1974 Labour goes to the IMF to ask for a loan 1974 2 retraites par bénéficiaire : la retraite de base restait toujours du ressort de l¥Etat, son montant restait uniforme. Disparition du principe de cotisation à taux unique au profit d¥une cotisation proportionnelle aux revenus (ce qui revient à faire payer les riches pour les pauvres). Parallèlement, tout travailleur devait s¥affilier au fond de pension de leur employeur (occupational retirement scheme) ou à la caisse de retraite complémentaire de l¥Etat (reserve scheme) qui devait pallier les éventuelles insuffisances du secteur privé. 1975 Social Security Pensions Act (mis en vigueur en 1978) - suppression de la retraite de base, - au terme d'une période transitoire de 20 ans, système de retraite progressif = State Earnings Related Pensions (SERPs) où le montant des cotisations et des pensions était calculé en fonction des revenus. - jusqu'à un certain niveau de revenu (basic amount ou revenu de base), la retraite correspondait à 100% du salaire en activité. 1975 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 1st Report on the Distribution of Income & Wealth (Diamond Commission): many inequalities are of status rather than of class => men/women ; old/young ; ethnic groups. 1975 Employment Protection Act : safeguards against unfair dismissals ; set up a written contract system where the conditions of work and payment were clearly stated. + institue les indemnités de grossesse et le congé maternité. Les employés obtiennent le droit de poursuivre davant la justice un employeur ne pratiquant pas le salaire minimum légal imposé par le conseil salarial qui opérait dans leur branche.(droit supprimé par Thatcher en 1980) 1975 Pression du FMI qui pousse le Labour à appliquer une politique de réduction des dépenses publiques au moment où la foule de chômeurs avaits le plus besoin d¥assistance. Budget 1975 : Retournement historique par lequel le gouvernement travailliste (Denis Healey, chancelier de l¥échiquier) abandonne la priorité donnée au plein emploi pour concentrer ses efforts sur la lutte contre l¥inflation. 1975 30,4% de la pop se situe en dessous du seuil de pauvreté avant les allocations de sécurité sociale ; 4,4% après les allocs. 1976 Labour made it compulsory to °go comprehensive¥. 1976 45 means-tested benefits (tremendous rise started by the Heath government) => against the basic principle of universality. 1976 début de l¥exploitation des gisements pétroliers de la mer du Nord, l¥industrie pétrolière est nationalisée British National Oil Corporation 1976 Race Relations Bill all forms of discrimination illegal, including, for the first time, any institutionalised form of discrimination, be it direct or indirect. une commission est créée pour guider les employeurs vers des pratiques non-discriminatoires(The Commission for Racial Equality). But things won¥t change much. cf Scarman Report 1981. 1977 Homeless Persons Act : Local Authorities had an obligation to offer a permanent home to all the homeless people. 1978 creation of S.E.R.P.S. oui !: State Earnings Related Pension Scheme. Old Age pensions became indexed on average wages (they went up with the wages). (New Labour against it...) 1978 Inner Urban Areas Act 1978-79 Winter of Discontent: more people on strike than ever before since the General Strike of 1926. Durant la période 76-79, augmentation des salaires sans commune mesure avec le potentiel productif. Multiplication des grèves nuit encore plus à la productivité. les travailleurs font la grève indépendamment des syndicats. 1978 32 % of the population live in council houses (59 % in Scotland) 54 % of the population are owner occupiers 14 % of the population live in private rented accommodation CONSERVATIVE 1979 -1990 (Thatcher) 1979-1983 (libéralisation de l¥économie, début de la vente des logements sociaux, baisse des impôts) le premier mandat de Margaret Thatcher (79-93) fut celui de la déréglementation, le deuxième (83-87) celui des privatisations, 1979 indirect dismantling of the 1977 Homeless People Act by preventing LAs from building new council houses (by reducing the grant attributed for housing). But the LAs still had the obligation to house them. Result: they spent a tremendous amount of money paying them accommodation in cheap hotels and B&Bs. (It would probably have been more profitable to build new council houses) (1979 - 57 200 homeless households / 1991 - 151 720 homeless households) 1980 The Black Report : popular name given to the "Inequalities in health: report on a research working group" published by the DHSS in April 1980. Instead of being printed and published, this typescript report was duplicated to 260 copies and made available during the August bank holiday. This attempt at "burying" the report contributed largely to its media coverage. In essence the Black Report highlighted the dysfunction of Britain's health service, particularly in relation to social class. It provided evidence that the lower your social class the less healthy you were likely to be and the earlier you could expect to die. It argued that the poorer health of the lower classes was a failing not just of the NHS but, more broadly, of inequalities in income, education, nutrition, housing, working conditions and cultural differences. This gap in health standards, the report argues, has increased steadily since 1949. Inequalities in Health °the black report¥ by P. Townsend and N. Davidson access to welfare of a lower quality in working-class areas - problem of transport (no car + unreliable public transport) - doctors = middle-class people. pb of communication + they don¥t live in the area - no telephone " a working-class person is at a greater disadvantage if he lives in a predominantly working-class area than if he lives in a socially mixed area " cf Tudor Hart (a general practitioner working in poor area of Wales), 1971 : the inverse care law : that the availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served. 1980 Local Gouvernement Planning and Land Act venait limiter les dépenses que les municipalités pouvaient engager et remplaçait les subventions allouées d'office par le gouvernement central pour équilibrer les budgets par une dotation globale annuelle (Block Grant). 1980 Social Mobility and class structure in Northern Britain by Goldthorpe (sociologist) montre que la majorité des pauvres reproduit le même schéma social 1980 Employment Act réglementait la pratique des piquets de grève et interdisait les grèves de solidarité. Retire le droit aux employés (et donc aux Wages Councils, responsables pour fixer les minimas en terme de salaires) de poursuivre en justice un employeur qui pratiquait des salaires inférieurs à ceux fixés par le conseil les protégeant. En 1985, le gouvernement réduit à nouveau le pouvoir des Wages Councils (qui n¥étaient déjà plus que consultatif) 1980 Housing Act constitution d¥une démocratie de propriétaires (property-owning democracy) - Privatisation of council property - The right to buy one¥s council house (1979 31.4 % people in council houses / 1995 18.9 %) - Les loyers municipaux augmentèrent de 109% de 1979 à 1983 (Townsend soulignait en 1979 " les pauvres paient plus que les riches pour leur logement ") réduit les possibilités pour les locataires ou les demandeurs de logements dans le secteur public. longues listes d¥attente.(1,5 million de personnes en 1987) 1980 The Urban Development Corporation(UDC) + Enterprise Zones ? 1980 Social Security Act time limit on unemployment benefits. removal of earnings-related principle in benefits (from then on, indexed on prices, not on average earnings). Increase in the number of means-tested benefits. provides for the link between earnings and benefits and for the abolition of the earnings related supplement 1981 Report on the Brixton Disorders = The Scarman Report (about discrimination against ethnic minorities in terms of education, employment and housing; some people said to him that " Britain is an institutionally racist society ") as an answer to the riots in conurbations between balck people and the police (Toxteth, Brixton, Liverpool, started in April1980, ended in July1981). It recommended a series of changes that the police should undertake, greater dialogue with community leaders, blacks in the police force (in 1988, only 0.9% of the total number of police officers in England and Wales were balck or coloured). Also said that greater efforts were needed to combat discrimination in housing distribution and education. The government rejected the idea that poor living conditions and unemployment could be at the root of such social unrest. Suite à ce rapport, Thatcher se lance dans la rénovation des Inner Cities mais cette rénovation bénéficiera essentiellement aux entrepreneurs et beaucoup moins à la population en détresse. 1982 Décentralisation du système de santé qui est placé sous le contrôle de Regional Health Authorities et de District Health Authorities qui bénéficient de ressources attribuées au niveau national. 1982 syndicats : un autre texte rendait les syndicats responsables pour tout dommage commis lors d'une grève et soumettait l'exercice du monopole syndical d'embauche à un vote à bulletin secret de la base. 1983 Falklands war 1983 British Nationality Act Any applicant for immigration would have to meet an English language requirement level and foreigners marrying British citizens would have to wait 3 years before they could be naturalised. 1983 New Hope for Britain :le Labour propose son programme le plus radical depuis celui de 1945 1983-1987 (privatisations à grande échelle, lois syndicales, réformes des collectivités locales, de la sécurité sociale) 1984 scission dans le Labour, création du SDP.The SDP founders, known as the 'Gang of Four', were Roy Jenkins (its first leader), David Owen (leader from 1983), Shirley Williams, and William Rodgers. 1984 Coal miners¥ strike (lasted a year) 1984 Trade Unions Act astreignait leurs dirigeants à renouveler leur mandat tous les cinq ans auprès de leur base, en ce qui concernait la political levy, tout prélèvement d'office était rendu illégal et chaque syndiqué devait faire la demande expresse. 1984-1985 riots in Birmingham and South London 1985 publication of Faith in the City by the Church of England criticising government policies in the inner cities and calling for more spending to help the poor. 1986 Wages Act élimine au maximum la notion de salaire minimum, assouplit la législation du travail dans un sens favorable aux employeurs. => baisse du chômage consécutivement : 12% EN 1987 ; 9% en 1988 ; 6% en 1990 mais la pauvreté augmenta de façon dramatique, ainsi que le nombre de personnes dépendantes de l¥Etat.= échec de la politique de Thatcher. L¥abolition des conseils salariaux toucha les femmes beaucoup plus durement que les hommes => la part du budget de la sécurité sociale qui augmenta le plus fut celle consacrée aux foyers monoparentaux (9 foyers monoparentaux sur 10 avaient une femme comme chef de foyer). 1986 Fowler Act (Social security Act) ministre de la Santé et de la Sécurité sociale, Norman Fowler. - dans le domaine des retraites, le projet initial du ministre de supprimer purement et simplement les SERPs fut finalement abandonné parce qu'il aurait coûté 1 milliard de £ au budget de l'Etat, mais leur montant était réduit à 20% du salaire et calculé sur la base de la moyenne des salaires de la période d'activité et non plus sur les 20 meilleures années; en revanche, les travailleurs qui adhéraient à des fonds de pensions privés bénéficiaient d'abattements fiscaux. - Le crédit familial (Family Credit) et le soutien de ressources (Income Support) venaient remplacer le Family Income Supplement et le Supplementary Benefit. Dans les deux cas, le Needs Test fait l¥objet d¥une analyse détaillée ayant pour objectif de traquer la fraude et les abus (rappelle le means test des années 30). - Enfin, un Fonds social (Social Fund) était institué pour gérer les allocations exceptionnelles auxquelles les titulaires du Supplementary Benefit pouvaient prétendre, mais au lieu d'être des dons, celles-ci étaient transformées en prêts que les bénéficiaires devaient ultérieurement rembourser. - Les femmes qui avaient un enfant devaient, pour s¥inscrire dans les bureaux d¥assistance, être disponibles le lendemain de l¥offre du poste vacant. Elle devaient, en outre, prouver qu¥une personne extérieure à leur famille pouvait s¥occuper de l¥enfant immédiatement. 107 000 femmes furent ainsi rayées du registre du chômage en 1987. - Rétablit le plafond de ressources par famille, ce qui entraîna des enquêtes de voisinage pour vérifier que deux personnes ne vivaient pas ensemble. Dans un couple, lorsque l¥un des partenaires a un emploi à plein temps, l¥autre perd automatiquement son droit à l¥aide au revenu (chômage) Ces lois, ainsi que l'abandon d'une politique des revenus (income policy) dont les 70s avaient montré l'aspect illusoire ou l'abolition des réglementations portant sur le salaire des jeunes, ont contribué à rendre plus flexible le marché du travail, flexibilité qui a contribué au recul du chômage, tant dans les 80s qu'au cours de la décennie suivante. 1987-1990 Réformes idéologiques (loi sur l¥éducation, réforme du NHS, refonte du système de financement des collectivités locales par le biais de la poll tax.) 1988 Social Security Act - supprime le droit à l¥income support pour tout jeune qui refuserait de s¥inscrire à une formation.(Young Training Scheme). 1988 Education Reform Act (Baker Act) : - introduced a national curriculum (move towards equality) - local management of schools : each school has to manage its own budget ; can try to get contracts with other bodies to raise some money (ex : rent the gymnasium) ; problem : the poor schools get even poorer (bad material from the start...). The funding of schools became dependent on success. - grant-maintained status : " opting out " ; a school could remove itself from the authority of the LEA and be directly under the authority of the Ministry, and get a grant from it. (unavowed aim = to weaken the influence of Labour in certain areas). Once a school had opted out, it was in complete control of the pupils it recruited and no longer had to comply with the Catchment area => another element of inequality. - publishing of League Tables (of the schools¥ performances at the A Levels) : freedom of choice. But in practice, the schools chose the children (not the parents the schools). Hierarchy emerging. " sink schools ". - l'institution d'un examen de fin d'études secondaires, le GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) 20 sept 1988 Discours de Bruges (Thatcher) : "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels." 1988 Action for Cities programme launched. 1989 loi supprimant l¥income support à toute personne refusant un emploi, même pour cause de salaire insuffisant 1989 White Paper : Working for Patients. The Health Service. Caring for the 1990s sur le système de santé prônant des réformes radicales sur le financement des hôpitaux et la rémunération des médecins dans un souci de réduction des coûts et de meilleure utilisation de l'argent public (value for money). La British Medical Association lance une campagne intitulée An S.O.S. for the N.H.S. pour alerter les Britanniques sur les risques de démantèlement du National Health Service. 1989 Poll Tax La réforme, mise en Ëuvre en 89 en Ecosse et l'année suivante en Angleterre-Pays de Galles, fut celle de la "charge communautaire" (community charge), plus connue sous le nom de poll tax. Le principe en était simple: le financement des autorités locales devait provenir exclusivement des rates; un impôt payable par tête à montant uniforme et auquel tous les adultes seraient assujettis. Son montant varierait d'une collectivité à l'autre, en fonction du montant des dépenses engagées ou programmées, et des effectifs de la population. Celle-ci, selon la formule désormais consacrée, revenait à faire payer davantage la famille ouvrière dont les enfants adultes vivaient encore sous le même toit que l'aristocrate dans son château (nonobstant le fait que la première consommait davantage de services sociaux que le second). L'année 89-90 fut marquée par des vagues de protestations intenses, culminant en un gigantesque meeting et de très fortes émeutes anti-poll tax à Trafalgar Square le 30 mars 90. Elle sera supprimée en 1992. 1990 Churches launch new attack on Thatcher 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act : - introduction of a market-inspired attitude in the NHS - It forced doctors to shop around for the best service at the lowest price - possibility for hospitals of " opting out " of the Local Area Health Authorities and become Hospital Trusts. Freer to take in patients from other regions in the country. in 1997, New Labour ended this internal market system in the NHS. Rise in Real Income after housing costs between 1979 and 1993/94 : - 1st bottom decile : -13 % - 5th decile : 31 % - 10th decile : 65 % => widening of the gap between the poor / the rich Income Tax 1979 (11 different rates of tax) 1st rate : 25 % of the income in tax top rate : 83 % of the income in tax (but no tax on perks) 1996 (3 different rates of tax) 1st rate : 20 % of the income in tax 2nd rate : 23 % of the income in tax 3rd rate : 40 % of the income in tax Between 1979 and 1995, the VAT progressively affected the poor more heavily than the rich. In 1995, it accounted for 20 % of the income of the bottom decile (only 8 % in 1979) and for 8 % of the income of the top decile. 1979 4.4 million people on Supplementary benefits 1995 9.8 million people on Income Support a clear indication of the rise of poverty. - Qu'est-ce que la Diamond Commission? c'est " the royal commission on the distribtion of income and wealth " which made reports : => in 1975 on the standing reference, => in 1976, as well as in 1977 et en 1979 on "higher incomes for employment" et à nouveau sur " the standing reference " => in 1978 on "low incomes" La commission Diamond a tenté de cerner tout ce qui concerne la pauvreté absolue et relative en termes financiers et matériels. - abolie en 1979 Les compromis du gouvernement Atlee: - généreuses indemnisations payées au secteur privé pour le transfert des industries à l¥Etat - souci de ne nationaliser que les industries dont les performances étaient insuffisantes (à l¥exception du fer et de l¥acier) - les mesures sociales ont essentiellement été mises à profit par la classe moyenne - le principe de la gratuité des soins est remis en question dès 1951. |
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POVERTY & AZERTY : quelques citations utiles proposées par des collègues.
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This is an E-TEACH vebring site by JS. Sahaï
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Page - first posting December 1996 |
