Social Security [antikvár]

PREFACE This book appears at a timely moment in view of the immense interest which has been aroused by the Beveridge Report. It does not, however, owe its origin to the appointment of the Interdepartmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services. The preparation of the work was commenced in the early months of 1941, with the object of enabling the Fabian Society to make a contribution to a subject of outstanding importance. The original plan envisaged Part I of the book in more or less its present form, but Part II was to consist of the working out in detail of a Fabian scheme of social security. When Sir William Beveridge and his colleagues were subsequently appointed to conduct the official enquiry, the Social Security Sub-Committee of the Fabian Society had already embarked on some hard thinking. It was therefore in a position to give evidence representing the fully considered views of a closely knit team rather than the hastily improvised stray thoughts, which so often masquerade as evidence in the proceedings of Official Committees and Royal Commissions. The Fabian Sub-Committee accordingly turned aside from its main task of preparing this book in order to give evidence before the Beveridge Committee. The Memorandum of Evidence was published by the Society as a pamphlet in August 1942 and is reprinted herein as an Appendix. The delay in the production of the book resulting from this and other causes (including the absence abroad on war work for four months of one member of our team) postponed publication far beyond the original intention; and in the meantime the Beveridge Report duly saw the light of day. It then became obvious that the book would be more useful if the original plan were modified so as to enable the Beveridge proposals to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner in Part II. This adjustment has been carried out. The reader will find in Part I a critical description of the existing social insurance and similar services; afid in Part II the most thorough critical examination which the Beveridge Report has so far received, followed by chapters on Social Security administration and on the medical services.