Poverty and the welfare state in interwar London

Poverty among working class households in interwar London is re-examined using records from the New Survey of London Life and Labour, 1929-31. Alternative poverty lines aer constructed to estimate the number of households in poverty including, and excluding, the social security benefits paid during the interwar period. The interwar social security system is found to deserve greater credit for alleviating poverty than is often recognised. Also, it is argued that the post-Beveridge social security system, if applied in the interwar period, would have further reduced poverty but would not have eliminated it.