<P> This strand began to coalesce into the social liberalism movement at the turn of the twentieth century in Britain . In their view, the poverty, squalor, and ignorance in which many people lived made it impossible for freedom and individuality to flourish . In the early 1900s, the Liberals under H.H. Asquith introduced various reforms, including health insurance, unemployment insurance, and pensions for elderly workers, thereby laying the groundwork for the future British welfare state . </P> <P> William Beveridge, often called the' architect of the welfare state', was pivotal in framing the debate about social work in the context of state welfare provision . His 1942 report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as the Beveridge Report, identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease, and went on to propose widespread reform to the system of social welfare to mitigate these problems . The report proved very popular with a war - weary public, and went on to form the basis to the post-war expansion of the Welfare State and the creation of the National Health Service, a free at the point of delivery healthcare provider . </P> <P> Currently, social work is known for its critical and holistic approach to understanding and intervening in social problems . This has led, for example, to the recognition of poverty as having a social and economic basis rooted in social policies rather than representing a personal moral defect . This trend also points to another historical development in the evolution of social work: once a profession engages in social control, it is directed at social and personal empowerment . </P> <P> This is not to say that modern social workers do not engage in social control (consider, for example, child protection workers), and many, if not most, social workers likely would agree that there is an ongoing tension between these forces within the profession . For example, see the debate between structural social work and humanistic social work . </P>

History of social work in usa and uk