000028

Description

A file of government correspondence relating to requests for the increase in billeting allowances for the British government's evacuation scheme. Subjects covered in the file include the inadequacy of government allowances to householders toward the cost of living for child and student evacuees, rendering the householders' hospitality to evacuees unaffordable, as the cost of provisions cannot be covered; and the suggestion that well-to-do parents, including middle-class parents from London and mothers unburdened with childcare or the high costs of private and university education, contribute more to billeting allowances or risk the return of their children. Other subjects discussed include a proposal for an increase in allowances for over-16s, who consume more resources. Documents in the file include letters of complaint by householders concerning their financial hardship in providing billeting for evacuees; and a table of statistics detailing the shortfall in the cost of food provisions for householders.

Keywords

accommodation, allowances, bacon, bedding, billeting, bread, butter, cereals, childcare, children, civil defence, civil service, clothing, communications, cost of living, dairy, disability, education, eggs, employment, evacuable areas, evacuation, evacuees, family, fats, finance, fish, flour, food preparation, food supplies, former servicemen, foster parents, fruit, fuel, healthcare, heating, householders, housing, infants, Irish nationals, Jews, laundry, lighting, local authorities, meals, meat, milk, mothers, motor vehicles, parents, pork, poverty, preserves, priority classes, private education, private evacuation, reception areas, rural areas, schools, Sir John Anderson, soap, social class, soldiers, state education, students, sugar, tea, teachers, unaccompanied evacuees, universities, vegetables, villages, volunteers, Winston Churchill, youths