Beveridge Report, the

In Britain, popular name of Social Insurance and Allied Services, a report written by William Beveridge in 1942 that formed the basis for the social-reform legislation of the Labour government of 1945-50.

Also known as the Report on Social Security, it identified five ‘giants’: idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor, and want. It proposed a scheme of social insurance from ‘the cradle to the grave’, and recommended a national health service, social insurance and assistance, family allowances, and full-employment policies.