Thirty years of the welfare state: current issues in British social policy for the aged

The social institutions which comprise the modern British "Welfare State" were largely formed by enactments of the postwar Labour Government. This legislation constitutes a landmark but was part, as well, of the continuing history of social care in the United Kingdom. Many of the institutions created in 1948 were located in existing buildings which could not, in conditions of postwar poverty, be abandoned. Not only were the buildings old; many of the ideas which shaped the policies introduced during this period were ideas with a very long history. In the last thirty years social policy has moved on, but it is intended that this article demonstrate that many of the issues which currently emerge as recurring themes in British professional literature on aging are by no means new ones; rather, they tend to be restatements of problems which have long delayed resolution. Before elaborating on this theme a brief description of the elderly population of the United Kingdom and of the range of institutional services provided for them is given.