structural:expansion
Health reforms

In 1919 the government set up the Ministry of Health, a development which led to major improvements in public health in the years that followed. Whilst the Unemployed Workers' Dependants (Temporary Provisions) Act 1921 provided payments for the wives and dependent children of unemployed workers. The Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act 1920 prohibited the employment of children below the limit of compulsory school age in railways and transport undertakings, building and engineering construction works, factories, and mines. The legislation also prohibited the employment of children in ships at sea (except in certain circumstances, such as in respect of family members employed on the same vessel).

The National Health Insurance Act 1920 increased insurance benefits, and eligibility for pensions was extended to more people. The means limit for pensions was raised by about two-thirds, immigrants and their wives were allowed to receive pensions after living in Britain for ten years, and the imprisonment and "failure to work" disqualifications for receiving pensions were abolished. The Blind Persons Act 1920 reduced the pension age for blind people from 70 to 50.

Old age pensions were nearly doubled (from £26 5s to £47 5s a year), efforts were made to help returning soldiers find employment, and the Whitley Councils of employees and employers set up.