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‘Britain needs a new Beveridge to fix its sorry welfare state’

BRITAIN’s welfare state, once a source of pride, is now “mediocre” compared to those of other European nations, according to think tank International Longevity Centre UK (ILC-UK).

In a report published yesterday it said that, with 15 million people at risk of becoming destitute, Britain now ranks 15th out of 23 countries on its poverty and social exclusion index.

With a rapidly ageing population, the welfare system needs to be reformed to become a “new Beveridge,” ILC-UK said, referring back to economist William Beveridge’s 1942 Social Insurance and Allied Services report, which served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state that was established by Labour three years later.

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