Fault or need? The UK’s approach to disability benefits since the Second World War

The UK social security system has never been based on disabled people’s needs. Rather, it has created several subcategories of disability based on medical assessments, insurance status and means testing. While this represents an example of the medical model of disability, the specifics of the system’s evolution since the 1940s are instructive. This article explains those developments in relation to the key national disability benefits, contrasting them with the National Disability Income approach proposed by the Disablement Income Group as early as the 1960s. This helps explain how, why and when disability became an important issue for the major political parties, as well as how the various forerunners of the Department for Work and Pensions attempted to balance political pressures to provide support for disabled people with strong institutional inertia against disrupting the existing system. If the UK decides to institute a Basic Income Plus, this history will provide important context.