Benefits Britain 1949 (Documentary, English)
Status: Ended
Premiered: 2013-08-12
Ended: 2013-08-26
Network: Channel 4
Country: GB
Airs on: Monday
Air time: 20:00
Runtime: 60 minutes
Benefits claimants volunteer to live by the rules of the first year of the welfare state, to examine how our safety net should work. Everyone's got an opinion about the welfare state, whether we're bemoaning 'scroungers' or pointing out how it's failed the vulnerable, but there's no consensus on how it can be fixed. In this bold piece of living history, current benefits claimants volunteer to live for a week by the rules of 1949 to explore how our safety net should work.