Editing English Poor Laws (section)

== History ==

=== Medieval Poor Laws ===
[[File:Doutielt3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Poor Laws in the aftermath of the [[Black Death]] (pictured), when labour was in short supply, were concerned with making the able-bodied work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uakron.edu/dotAsset/726694.pdf |title=Five Hundred Years of English Poor Laws, 1349–1834:Regulating the Working and Nonworking Poor |access-date=2009-07-22}}Akron Law Review 30 (1996): 73–128</ref> (Also see: [[Sturdy beggar]])]]
The earliest medieval Poor Law was the [[Ordinance of Labourers]] of [[Edward III of England|King Edward III]], issued in 1349 and revised in 1350.<ref name="kingsnorton.info">{{cite web |url=http://www.kingsnorton.info/time/poor_law_workhouse_timeline.htm |title=Timeline – Poor Laws, Workhouses, and Social Support |publisher=Kingsnorton.info |access-date=2010-12-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713202144/http://www.kingsnorton.info/time/poor_law_workhouse_timeline.htm |archive-date=2012-07-13 }}</ref> The ordinance was issued in response to the 1348–1350 outbreak of the [[Black Death in England]],<ref name=disease>Cartwright, Frederick F. 1991. ''Disease and History''. New York: Barnes & Noble. pp. 32–46.</ref> when an estimated 30–40% of the population died.<ref name=econ>{{cite web|url=http://www.cf.ac.uk/hisar/teach/history/projects/plague/economy.html |title=What was the Economy Like After the Black Death? |access-date=2007-04-30 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430031619/http://www.cf.ac.uk/hisar/teach/history/projects/plague/economy.html |archive-date=2007-04-30 }} ''The Plague and England'', Cardiff University. Retrieved on April 11, 2009.</ref> The decline in population left surviving workers in great demand in the agricultural economy.<ref name=disease/> Landowners had to face the choice of raising wages to compete for workers or letting their lands go unused. Wages for labourers rose, and this forced up prices across the economy as goods became more expensive to produce.<ref name=econ/> An attempt to rein in prices, the ordinance (and subsequent acts, such the [[Statute of Labourers]] of 1351) required that everyone who could work did; that wages were kept at pre-plague levels; and that food was not overpriced.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blacksocial_01.shtml|title=BBC - History - British History in depth: Black Death: Political and Social Changes}}</ref> Workers saw these shortage conditions as an opportunity to flee employers and become freemen, so Edward III passed additional laws to provide for the punishment of the wave of escapee workers.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, pp. 1–2, 24–25</ref>  In addition, the [[Statute of Cambridge]], passed in 1388,<ref>Byrne, Joseph Patrick, The black death, p. 66</ref> placed restrictions on the movement of labourers and beggars.<ref name="kingsnorton.info"/>

=== Tudor Poor Law ===
{{main|Tudor poor laws}}
The origins of the English Poor Law system can be traced back to late medieval statutes dealing with beggars and vagrancy, but it was only during the [[Tudor period]] that the Poor Law system was codified. Before the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] during the Tudor [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], [[monasteries]] had been the primary source of poor relief, but their dissolution resulted in poor relief moving from a largely voluntary basis to a compulsory tax that was collected at a parish level.<ref name="victorianweb2">{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/elizpl.html |title=The 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> Early legislation was concerned with [[vagrants]] and making the [[able-bodied]] work, especially while labour was in short supply following the [[Black Death]].

[[Tudor period|Tudor]] attempts to tackle the problem originated during the reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]. In 1495, Parliament passed the [[Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494|Vagabonds and Beggars Act]], ordering that "vagabonds, idle and suspected persons shall be set in the [[stocks]] for three days and three nights and have none other sustenance but bread and water and then shall be put out of Town. Every beggar suitable to work shall resort to the [[Hundred (county division)|Hundred]] where he last dwelled, is best known, or was born and there remain upon the pain aforesaid."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.witheridge-historical-archive.com/poor-1.htm |title=Poor Law Origins |publisher=Witheridge-historical-archive.com |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref> Although this returned the burden of caring for the jobless to the communities producing more children than they could employ, it offered no immediate remedy to the problem of poverty; it was merely swept from sight, or moved from town to town. Moreover, no distinction was made between vagrants and the jobless; both were simply categorised as "[[sturdy beggar]]s", to be punished and moved on.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Sturdy+Beggars&offset=0 |title=Sturdy Beggars |publisher=Probertencyclopaedia.com |access-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616095301/http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Sturdy+Beggars&offset=0 |archive-date=2008-06-16 }}</ref>

In 1530, during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]], a proclamation was issued, describing idleness as the "mother and root of all vices"<ref>{{cite book |last=Baker |first=John Hamilton |url= |title=The Oxford History of the Laws of England: 1483–1558 |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198258179 |page=97}}</ref> and ordering that whipping should replace the stocks as the punishment for vagabonds. This change was confirmed in the [[Vagabonds Act 1530]] the following year, with one important change: it directed the [[justice of the peace|justices of the peace]] to assign to the impotent poor an area within which they were to beg. Generally, the licences to beg for the impotent poor were limited to the disabled, sick, and elderly.<ref>Lewis C. Vollmar, Jr., "The Effect of Epidemics on the Development of English Law from the Black Death Through the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Legal Medicine, vol. 15 (1994), p. 385</ref> An impotent person begging out of his area was to be imprisoned for two days and nights in the stocks, on bread and water, and then sworn to return to the place in which he was authorised to beg.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rathbone |first=Mark |title=Vagabond! |journal=History Review |publisher=History Today |year=2005 |pages=8–13 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/vagabond}}</ref> An able-bodied beggar was to be whipped, and sworn to return to the place where he was born, or last dwelt for the space of three years, and there put himself to labour. Still no provision was made, though, for the healthy man simply unable to find work. All able-bodied unemployed were put into the same category. Those unable to find work had a stark choice: starve or break the law. In 1535, a bill was drawn up calling for the creation of a system of [[public works]] to deal with the problem of [[unemployment]], to be funded by a tax on income and capital. A law passed a year later allowed vagabonds to be whipped.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/poortudors.html |title=Poor Tudors |publisher=Localhistories.org |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref>

In London, there was a great massing of the poor, and the Reformation threatened to eliminate some of the infrastructure used to provide for the poor. As a result, King Henry VIII consented to re-endow [[St Bartholomew's Hospital#Early history|St. Bartholomew's Hospital]] in 1544 and [[St Thomas' Hospital#The Hospital at The Borough, Southwark|St. Thomas' Hospital]] in 1552 on the condition that the citizens of London pay for their maintenance.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, p. 47</ref> However, the city was unable to raise enough revenue from voluntary contributions, so it instituted the first definite compulsory Poor Rate in 1547, which replaced Sunday collections in church with a mandatory collection for the poor.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, p. 48</ref> In 1555, London became increasingly concerned with the number of poor who could work, but yet could not find work, so it established the first [[House of correction|House of Correction]] (predecessor to the [[workhouse]]) in the [[Bridewell Palace|King's Palace at Bridewell]] where poor could receive shelter and work at cap-making, feather-bed making, and wire drawing.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, p. 50</ref>

For the able-bodied poor, life became even tougher during the reign of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]]. The [[Vagabonds Act 1547]] was passed that subjected [[Vagrancy|vagrants]] to some of the more extreme provisions of the criminal law, namely two years servitude and branding with a "V" as the penalty for the first offence, and death for the second. Justices of the Peace were reluctant to apply the full penalty.<ref>R. O. Bucholz, Newton Key, Early modern England, 1485–1714, p. 176</ref> In 1552, Edward VI passed the [[Poor Act 1551]] which designated a position of "Collector of Alms" in each parish and created a register of licensed poor. Under the assumption that parish collections would now relieve all poor, begging was completely prohibited.<ref>Paul Slack, The English Poor Law 1531-1782, pp. 59–60</ref>

The government of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], Edward VI's successor after [[Mary I of England|Mary I]], was also inclined to severity. The [[Vagabonds Act 1572]] called for offenders to be burned through the ear for a first offence, and that persistent beggars should be hanged; however, the Act also made the first clear distinction between the "professional beggar" and those unemployed through no fault of their own. Early in her reign, Elizabeth I also passed laws directly aimed at providing relief for the poor. For example, in 1563, her [[Poor Act 1562|Act for the Relief of the Poor]] required all parish residents with ability{{clarify|date=November 2019}} to contribute to poor collections.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, p. 51</ref> Those who "of his or their forward willful mind shall obstinately refuse to give weekly to the relief of the poor according to his or their abilities" could be bound over to justices of the peace and fined £10.<ref>[[Poor Act 1562]] ([[5 Eliz. 1]]. c. 3)</ref> Additionally, the 1572 Act further enabled Justices of the Peace to survey and register the impotent poor, determine how much money was required for their relief, and then assess parish residents weekly for the appropriate amount.<ref>Sidney & Beatrice Webb, English Local Government: English Poor Law History Part 1, p. 52</ref> The [[Poor Act 1575]] required towns to create "a competent stock of wool, hemp, flax, iron and other stuff" for the poor to work on and houses of correction for those who refused to work where recalcitrant or careless workers could be forced to work and punished accordingly.<ref>[[Poor Act 1575]] ([[18 Eliz. 1]]. c. 3)</ref>

==== A new colonial solution ====
In the early 1580s, with the development of English colonisation schemes, initially in [[Plantations of Ireland|Ireland]] and later in [[English overseas possessions#List of English possessions in North America|North America]], a new method to alleviate the condition of the poor would be suggested and utilised considerably over time.  Merchant and colonisation proponent [[George Peckham (merchant)|George Peckham]] noted the then-current domestic conditions; "there are at this day great numbers which live in such [[Poverty|penurie]] & want, as they could be content to hazard their lives, and to ser[v]e one yeere for meat, drinke and apparell only, without wages, in hope thereby to amend their estates." With this, he may have been the first to suggest what became the institution of [[Indentured servant|indentured service]].<ref name="Geiser">Karl Frederick Geiser, [https://archive.org/stream/redemptionersind00geis/redemptionersind00geis_djvu.txt Redemptioners and indentured servants in the colony and commonwealth of Pennsylvania], p. 5. Supplement to the [[Yale Review]], Vol. X, No. 2, August, 1901.</ref>  At the same time [[Richard Hakluyt]], in his preface to ''Divers Voyages'', likens [[Plantation (settlement or colony)|English planters]] to "Bees...led out by their Captaines to swarme abroad"; he recommends "deducting" the poor out of the realm. Hakluyt also broadens the scope and additionally recommends to empty the prisons and send them off to the New World.<ref>Philip J. Stern, Carl Wennerlind Eds. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aXNBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and Its Empire], p. 166 (2013)</ref> 

By 1619 [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia's]] system of indentured service would be fully developed, and subsequent colonies would adopt the method with modifications suitable to their different conditions and times.<ref name="Geiser"/> English [[penal transportation]] would be implemented soon afterwards, and evolve into a subsidized government endeavour with the [[Transportation Act 1717]].

=== Old Poor Law ===
{{Redirect|Old Poor Law|the Old Poor Law of Scotland between 1574-1845|Old Scottish Poor Law}}

[[File:Darnley stage 3.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Poor Relief Act 1601]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/the-poor-law.htm |title=The Poor Law |publisher=Elizabethan-era.org.uk |date=2007-05-17 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> is sometimes referred to as the "43rd Elizabeth"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhshistory.net/regions_&_districts.htm |title=Regions & Districts |publisher=Nhshistory.net |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> as it was passed in the 43rd year of the reign of [[Elizabeth I of England]] (pictured).]]

In 1597, [[9th Parliament of Elizabeth I|a session of Parliament]] was called to deal with the issues of increased poverty and vagrancy, among other things. This session culminated in the passage of several Acts referred to as the "Poor Laws of 1598".<ref name="Cambridge1350">{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Marjorie Kensington |title=Poor Relief in England, 1350-1600 |chapter=The Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601 |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=273–293 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139057547.014 |isbn=978-1-107-01508-1 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/poor-relief-in-england-13501600/poor-laws-of-1598-and-1601/DD47B704ECD7DED525DC5A4310B14408}}</ref> Among them were the [[Poor Relief Act 1597]] and the [[Vagabonds Act 1597]]. These laws were further refined and formalized by [[10th Parliament of Elizabeth I|the next session of Parliament]], primarily in the [[Poor Relief Act 1601]]. Together, these Acts of 1598 and 1601 came to be known as "The Elizabethan Poor Laws."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hindle |first1=Steve |title=Identity and Agency in England, 1500–1800 |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0-230-52310-4 |pages=38–41 |doi=10.1057/9780230523104_2 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230523104_2 |access-date=26 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="MedievalDrama">{{cite journal |last1=McDonald |first1=Marcia A. |title=The Elizabethan Poor Laws and the Stage in the Late 1590s |journal=Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England |date=1995 |volume=7 |pages=121–144 |jstor=24322412 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24322412 |access-date=26 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Szreter |first1=Simon |title=How Elizabethan law once protected the poor from the high cost of living – and led to unrivalled economic prosperity |url=https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/how-elizabethan-law-once-protected-the-poor-from-the-high-cost-of-living-and-led-to-unrivalled-economicprosperity|website=History and Policy |date=6 June 2022 |access-date=26 March 2024}}</ref>

The more immediate origins of the Elizabethan Poor Law system were deteriorating economic circumstances in sixteenth-century England. Historian [[George Boyer]] has stated that England suffered rapid inflation at this time caused by population growth, the debasement of coinage and the inflow of American silver.<ref name="encyclopedia2"/> Poor harvests in the period between 1595 and 1598 caused the numbers in poverty to increase, while charitable giving had decreased after the dissolution of the monasteries and religious guilds.<ref>Slack, Paul. The English Poor Law, 1531–1782. London: Macmillan, 1990.</ref>

The [[Poor Relief Act 1601]] created a system administered at parish level,<ref name="historyhome2"/> paid for by levying local rates on rate payers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mdlp.co.uk/resources/general/poor_law.htm |title=A Short Explanation of the English Poor Law |publisher=Mdlp.co.uk |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> Relief for those too ill or old to work, the '[[impotent poor]]', was in the form of a payment or items of food ('the parish loaf') or clothing also known as [[outdoor relief]]. Some aged people might be accommodated in parish [[alms house]]s, though these were usually private charitable institutions. Meanwhile, able-bodied beggars who had refused work were often placed in [[House of Correction|Houses of Correction]] or even subjected to beatings to mend their attitudes. Provision for the many able-bodied poor in the [[workhouse]] was relatively unusual, and most workhouses developed later. The 1601 Law made parents and children responsible for each other, so elderly parents would live with their children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/elizpl.html |title=The 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref>

The [[Old Poor Law]] was a parish-based system;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/parishmap2.html |title=Parishes in southern Yorkshire |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-01 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> there were around 15,000 such parishes based upon the area around a parish church. The system allowed for despotic behaviour from the [[overseer of the poor|overseers of the poor]],<ref name="historyhome1">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/justify.htm |title=Justifying the relief of poverty |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> but as they would know their paupers, they were considered able to differentiate between the deserving and undeserving poor, making the system both more humane and initially more efficient.<ref name="historyhome1"/> The population was then small enough for everyone to know everyone else's circumstances, so the [[idle poor]] would be unable to claim on the parishes' [[poor rate]]. The system provided social stability yet by 1750 needed to be adapted to cope with population increases,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/social/pop.htm |title=Population Growth in the Age of Peel |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> greater mobility and regional price variations.

The 1601 act sought to deal with 'settled' poor who had found themselves temporarily out of work—it was assumed they would accept [[indoor relief]] or outdoor relief. Neither method was then deemed harsh. The act was intended to deal with beggars who were considered a threat to civil order. The act was passed at a time when poverty was considered necessary as fear of poverty made people work. In 1607 a [[House of Correction]] was set up in each county. However, this system was separate from the 1601 system which distinguished between the settled poor and '[[Vagrancy|vagrants]]'. There was much variation in the application of the law and there was a tendency for the destitute to migrate towards the more generous parishes, usually situated in the towns.<ref name="historyhome2">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/plaa.htm |title=The Old Poor Law 1795–1834 |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> This led to the Settlement Act 1662 also known as the [[Poor Relief Act 1662]], which allowed relief only to established residents of a parish; mainly through birth, marriage and [[apprenticeship]]. Unfortunately, the laws reduced the mobility of labour and discouraged the pauper from leaving his parish to find work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/settle.html |title=The 1662 Settlement Act |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> They also encouraged industry to create short contracts (e.g. 364 days) that did not make an employee eligible for poor relief.<ref name="historyhome2"/>

A pauper applicant had to prove a settlement.  If he could not, he was removed to the parish nearest to his birthplace, or where he prove some connection; some paupers were moved hundreds of miles. Although the parishes he passed through en route had no responsibility for him, they were supposed to supply food and drink and shelter for at least one night. An act of 1697 required beggars to wear a badge of red or blue cloth on the right shoulder with an embroidered letter "P" and the initial of their parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepotteries.org/dates/poor.htm |title=Key dates in Poor Law and Relief Great Britain 1300–1899 |publisher=Thepotteries.org |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> However, this practice soon fell into disuse.<ref>Knott, John, Popular opposition to the 1834 Poor Law, p. 21</ref>

The workhouse movement began at the end of the 17th century with the establishment of the [[Bristol Corporation of the Poor]], founded by the Bristol Poor Act in 1696.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/stpetershospital.shtml |title=History of St Peter's Hospital, Bristol |publisher=Buildinghistory.org |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> The corporation established a [[workhouse]] which combined housing and care of the poor with a house of correction for petty offenders. Following the example of [[Bristol]], some twelve further towns and cities established similar corporations in the next two decades. As these corporations required private acts, they were unsuitable for smaller towns and individual parishes.

Starting with the parish of [[Olney, Buckinghamshire|Olney]], [[Buckinghamshire]] in 1714 several dozen small towns and individual parishes established their own institutions without any specific legal authorization. These were concentrated in the [[South Midlands]] and in the county of [[Essex]]. From the late 1710s the [[Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge]] began to promote the idea of parochial workhouses. The society published several pamphlets on the subject, and supported [[Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Baronet|Sir Edward Knatchbull]] in his successful efforts to steer the [[Workhouse Test Act]] through Parliament in 1723.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maxineweddell/108.htm |title=Edward Reynolds|publisher=Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> The act gave legislative authority for the establishment of parochial workhouses, by both single parishes and as joint ventures between two or more parishes. More importantly, the act helped to publicise the idea of establishing workhouses to a national audience. By 1776 some 1,912 parish and corporation workhouses had been established in England and Wales, housing almost 100,000 paupers. Perhaps one million people were receiving some kind of parish poor relief by the end of the century.<ref>E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, at 147. Full text available at https://libcom.org/library/making-english-working-class-ep-thompson</ref> Although many parishes and pamphlet writers expected to earn money from the labour of the poor in workhouses, the vast majority of people obliged to take up residence in workhouses were ill, elderly, or children whose labour proved largely unprofitable. The demands, needs and expectations of the poor also ensured that workhouses came to take on the character of general social policy institutions, combining the functions of creche, and night shelter, geriatric ward and orphanage. In 1782, [[Thomas Gilbert (politician)|Thomas Gilbert]] finally succeeded in passing the [[Relief of the Poor Act 1782|Relief of the Poor Act]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/gilbert.html |title=Gilbert's Act (1782) |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> that established poor houses solely for the aged and infirm and introduced a system of outdoor relief for the able-bodied. This was the basis for the development of the [[Speenhamland system]], which made financial provision for low-paid workers. Settlement Laws were altered by the [[Poor Removal Act 1795]] which prevented non-settled persons from being moved on unless they had applied for relief.<ref name="encyclopedia2"/> An investigation of the history and current state of the Poor Laws was made by [[Michael Nolan (MP)|Michael Nolan]] in his 1805 ''Treatise of the Laws for the Relief and Settlement of the Poor''. The work would go on to three subsequent editions in Nolan's lifetime (Nolan was elected an MP for Barnstaple in 1820), and stoked the discussion both within and outside of Parliament.

[[File:To Builders and Contractors 1829.jpg|thumb|Advertisement for builders to build a new Workhouse in north [[Wales]], 1829]]

During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] it became difficult to [[import]] cheap grain into Britain which resulted in the price of bread increasing.<ref name="victorianweb1"/> As wages did not also increase, many agricultural labourers were plunged into poverty. Following peace in 1814, the [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] government of [[Lord Liverpool]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/Liverpool.html |title=Lord Liverpool |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-03-04 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> passed the [[Corn Laws]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/cornlaws1.html |title=The Corn Laws |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-10-11 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> to keep the price of [[grain]] artificially high. 1815 saw great social unrest<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/distress/distress.htm |title=Causes of the Discontent and Distress, 1812–22 |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> as the end of the French Wars<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/france/waterloo.htm |title=The Battle of Waterloo: 18 June 1815 |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> saw industrial and agricultural depression and high [[unemployment]]. Social attitudes to poverty began to change after 1815 and overhauls of the system were considered. The Poor Law system was criticized as distorting the [[free market]] and in 1816 a parliamentary select committee looked into altering the system<ref name="victorianweb3">{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/changes.html |title=Changing attitudes towards poverty after 1815 |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> which resulted in the [[Sturges-Bourne's Act]] being passed. 1817 also saw the passing of the [[Public Works Loans Act 1817]] ([[57 Geo. 3]]. c. 34), ''"to authorise the issue of Exchequer Bills and the Advance of Money out of the Consolidated Fund, to a limited Amount, for the carrying on of Public Works and Fisheries in the United Kingdom and Employment of the Poor in Great Britain"''.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2591355|title=The Poor Employment Act of 1817|first=M. W.|last=Flinn|date=1 January 1961|journal=The Economic History Review|volume=14|issue=1|pages=82–92|doi=10.2307/2591355}}</ref> By 1820, before the passing of the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]] workhouses were already being built to reduce the spiralling cost of poor relief.<ref name="victorianweb3"/> Boyer suggests several possible reasons for the gradual increase in relief given to able-bodied males, including the [[enclosure movement]] and a decline in industries such as wool spinning and lace making.<ref name="encyclopedia2"/> Boyer also contends that farmers were able to take advantage of the poor law system to shift some of their labour costs onto the tax payer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boyer |first=George R. |title=An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1990}}</ref>

=== The Royal Commission on the Poor Law ===
{{main|1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws}}

[[File:Nassau William Senior (portrait).jpg|thumb|left|[[Nassau William Senior]] argued for greater centralization of the Poor Law system.]]

The [[1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws]]<ref name="victorianweb4">{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/royalcom.html |title=The 1832 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the operation of the Poor Laws |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-08 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> was set up following the widespread destruction and machine breaking of the [[Swing Riots]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/ruralife/swing.htm |title=Rural Unrest in the 1830s: the "Swing" riots |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> The report was prepared by a commission of nine, including [[Nassau William Senior]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/senior.htm |title=Nassau William Senior |publisher=Homepage.newschool.edu |access-date=2009-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106050650/http://homepage.newschool.edu/het/profiles/walras.htm |archive-date=2011-01-06 }}</ref> and served by [[Edwin Chadwick]] as Secretary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chad1.html |title=Edwin Chadwick |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-10-14 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> The royal commission's primary concerns were with [[illegitimacy]] (or "bastardy"), reflecting the influence of [[Malthusianism|Malthusians]], and the fear that the practices of the [[Old Poor Law]] were undermining the position of the independent labourer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/plevils.htm |title=The burdens and evils associated with the existing Poor Laws |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref>  Two practices were of particular concern: the "[[roundsman]]" system,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/speen.html |title=The Speenhamland System |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-07 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> where overseers hired out paupers as cheap labour, and the [[Speenhamland system]], which subsidised low wages without relief.<ref name="victorianweb4"/> The report concluded that the existing Poor Laws undermined the prosperity of the country by interfering with the natural laws of supply and demand, that the existing means of poor relief allowed employers to force down wages, and, that poverty itself was inevitable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/royalcom.html |title=The 1832 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the operation of the Poor Laws |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-08 |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/soundsys.html |title=Principles of a sound system of Poor Relief |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-08-22 |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref>

The commission proposed the [[Poor Law Amendment Act|New Law]] be governed by two overarching principles:
{{quote|
* "[[less eligibility]]": that the [[pauper]] should have to enter a workhouse with conditions worse than that of the poorest free labourer outside of the workhouse.<ref name="historyhome4">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/eligibil.htm |title=Less eligibility |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref>
* the "[[workhouse test]]", that relief should only be available in the [[workhouse]].<ref name="publicpolicy1"/>  The reformed workhouses were to be uninviting, so that anyone capable of coping outside them would choose not to be in one.}}
When the act was introduced however it had been partly watered down. The workhouse test and the idea of "less eligibility" were never mentioned themselves and the recommendation of the royal commission that [[outdoor relief]] (relief given outside of a workhouse)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/plaatext.htm |title=The New Poor Law, 14 August 1834 |publisher=Historyhome.co.uk |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> should be abolished&nbsp;– was never implemented. The report recommended separate workhouses for the aged, infirm, children, able-bodied females and able-bodied males. The report also stated that parishes should be grouped into unions in order to spread the cost of workhouses and a central authority should be established in order to enforce these measures. The [[Poor Law Commission]] set up by [[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Earl Grey]] took a year to write its report, the recommendations passed easily through Parliament support by both main parties the [[British Whig Party|Whigs]] and the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]]. The bill gained [[royal assent]] in 1834. The few who opposed the bill were more concerned about the centralisation which it would bring rather than the underpinning philosophy of [[utilitarianism]].<ref>Rees, Rosmary, Poverty and Public Health 1815–1948, p. 30</ref>

=== New Poor Law ===
{{main|Poor Law Amendment Act 1834}}
{{further|Outdoor Labour Test Order|Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order|Less eligibility|Workhouse}}

The '''Poor Law Amendment Act'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/poorlaw.htm |title=The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 |work=History Home |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> was passed in 1834 by the government of [[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne|Lord Melbourne]] and largely implemented the findings of the royal commission which had presented its findings two years earlier.<ref name="victorianweb5">{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/plaatext.html |title=The Poor Law Amendment Act: 14 August 1834 |work=The Victorian Web |date=2002-09-23 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> The [[New Poor Law]] is considered to be one of the most "far-reaching pieces of legislation of the entire Nineteenth Century"<ref name="victorianweb1"/> and "classic example of the fundamental [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]]–[[Benthamite]] reforming legislation of the period".<ref name="victorianweb5"/> The act aimed to reduce the burden on rate payers and can be seen as an attempt by the Whig government to win the votes of the classes enfranchised by the [[Great Reform Act]]. Despite being labelled an "amendment act" it completely overhauled the existing system<ref name="victorianweb3"/> and established a [[Poor Law Commission]] to oversee the national operation of the system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/plcommiss.html |title=The Poor Law Commission |work=The Victorian Web |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> This included the forming together of small parishes into [[poor law union]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/types/status_page.jsp?unit_status=PLU |title=Administrative Units Typology &#124; Status definition: Poor Law Union |work=A Vision of Britain through Time |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> and the building of workhouses in each union for the giving of poor relief. Although the legislation sought to reduce costs to rate payers, one area not reformed was the system's continued financing via "poor rates"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/savings.html |title=Savings on the poor rates made by the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act |work=The Victorian Web |date=2002-09-17 |access-date=2009-07-22}}</ref> on property owners.

Although the [[Poor Law Amendment Act]] did not ban all forms of [[outdoor relief]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/victorianbritain/caring/default.htm |title=Did the treatment of the poor improve after the 1834 Poor Law? |work=Learning Curve |publisher=BBC |access-date=2009-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828041756/http://learningcurve.gov.uk/victorianbritain/caring/default.htm |archive-date=2008-08-28 }}</ref> it stated that no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a [[workhouse]]. Conditions in workhouses were to be made harsh to discourage people from claiming. Workhouses were to be built in every parish, or in poor law unions. The [[Poor Law Commissioners]] were to be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the act.

Various reasons prevented the application of some of the act's terms. [[Less eligibility]] was in some cases impossible without starving paupers, and the high cost of building workhouses incurred by rate payers meant that outdoor relief continued to be a popular alternative. Despite efforts to ban outdoor relief, parishes continued to offer it as a more cost-effective method of dealing with pauperism. The [[Outdoor Labour Test Order]]<ref>{{cite web |author=Peter Higginbotham |url=https://www.workhouses.org.uk/gco/outdoorlabourtestintro.shtml |title=The 1842 Outdoor Labour Test Order |publisher=The Workhouse: The story of an institution |access-date=2021-12-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028090101/http://www.workhouses.org.uk/gco/outdoorlabourtestintro.shtml |archive-date=28 October 2021 }}</ref> and [[Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order]]<ref>Williams, Karel, ''From Pauperism to Poverty'', p. 64, {{ISBN|0-7100-0698-5}}</ref> were both issued to try to prevent people receiving relief outside of the workhouse.

When the new amendment was applied to the industrial North of [[England]] (an area the law had never considered during reviews), the system failed catastrophically as many found themselves temporarily unemployed, due to recessions or a fall in stock demands (so-called '[[cyclical unemployment]]') and were reluctant to enter a workhouse, despite its being the only method of gaining aid. [[Nottingham]] also was allowed an exemption from the law and continued to provide outdoor relief.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/nottingh.html |title=Unemployment in Nottingham (1837–8) |work=The Victorian Web |date=2002-11-07 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref>

The abuses and shortcomings of the system are documented in the novels of [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Frances Trollope]] and later in ''[[The People of the Abyss]]'' by [[Jack London]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1688/1688-h/1688-h.htm|title=The People of the Abyss|first=Jack|last=London|year=1903}}</ref> Despite the aspirations of the reformers, the New Poor Law was unable to make the Workhouse as bad as life outside. The primary problem was that in order to make the diet of the workhouse inmates "less eligible" than what they could expect outside, it would be necessary to starve the inmates beyond an acceptable level.<ref name="historyhome4"/> It was for this reason that other ways were found to deter entrance to the workhouses. These measures ranged from the introduction of prison-style uniforms to the segregation of inmates into separate yards for men, women, boys, and girls.

In 1846, the [[Andover workhouse scandal]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/andover.html |title=The Andover Workhouse scandal, 1845–6 |publisher=Victorianweb.org |date=2002-11-12 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> where conditions in the [[Andover, Hampshire|Andover]] Union workhouse were found to be inhumane and dangerous, prompted a government review and the replacement of the [[Poor Law Commission]] with a [[Poor Law Board]].  Now, a committee of Parliament was to administer the Poor Law, with a cabinet minister as head. Despite this [[Huddersfield workhouse scandal|another scandal]] occurred over inhumane treatment of paupers in the [[Huddersfield]] workhouse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/poorlaw/huddscand.htm |title=The Huddersfield workhouse scandal: 1848 |publisher=History Home |date=2009-01-19 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref>

=== After the New Poor Law ===
{{main|Poor Law policy after the New Poor Law}}
{{further|Poor Law Commission|Poor Law Board|Local Government Board}}
[[File:SirEdwinChadwick.jpg|thumb|upright|Infighting between [[Edwin Chadwick]] and other [[Poor Law Commissioners]] was one reason for an overhaul of Poor Law administration.]]

After 1847 the [[Poor Law Commission]] was replaced with a [[Poor Law Board]].<ref name="institutions2007"/> This was because of the [[Andover workhouse scandal]] and the criticism of Henry Parker who was responsible for the Andover union as well as the tensions in Somerset House caused by [[Edwin Chadwick|Chadwick's]] failure to become a [[Poor Law Commissioner]]. The Poor Law had been altered in 1834 because of increasing costs. The [[Workhouse Visiting Society]] which formed in 1858 highlighted conditions in workhouses<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swallowcliffehall.com/workh.html |title=The workhouse |publisher=Swallowcliffehall.com |access-date=2009-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906140144/http://www.swallowcliffehall.com/workh.html |archive-date=2009-09-06 }}</ref> and led to workhouses being inspected more often.<ref>Margaret Anne Crowther, The workhouse system, 1834–1929: the history of an English social institution, p. 69</ref> The [[Union Chargeability Act 1865]] was passed in order to make the financial burden of pauperism be placed upon the whole unions rather than individual parishes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://agreg-ink.net/civi/2005/morris5.html |title=William Morris: Life and Times |publisher=Agreg-ink.net |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> Most boards of guardians were middle class and committed to keeping poor rates as low as possible. After the [[Reform Act 1867]] there was increasing welfare legislation. As this legislation required local authorities' support the Poor Law Board was replaced with a [[Local Government Board]] in 1871.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/CollMisc0231/CollMisc0231.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040328110522/http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/CollMisc0231/CollMisc0231.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-03-28 |title=The collection of Local Government Board held at the British Library of Political and Economic Science |publisher=Library-2.lse.ac.uk |access-date=2009-05-17 }}</ref> The [[Local Government Board]] led a crusade against outdoor relief supported by the [[Charity Organisation Society]], an organization which viewed [[outdoor relief]] as destroying the self-reliance of the poor.<ref name="encyclopedia2"/> The effect of this renewed effort to deter outdoor relief was to reduce claimants by a third and to increase numbers in the work house by 12–15%.<ref name="encyclopedia2"/> County councils were formed in 1888, and district councils in 1894. This meant that public housing, unlike health and income maintenance, developed outside the scope of the Poor Law. Poor Law policy after the [[New Poor Law]] concerning the elderly, the [[disease|sick]] and mentally ill and children became more humane.<ref name="gloucs1">{{cite web |url=http://www.balcarras.gloucs.sch.uk/curriculum/pupilpages/his/year13/poverty/poorlaw18471900.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082356/http://www.balcarras.gloucs.sch.uk/curriculum/pupilpages/his/year13/poverty/poorlaw18471900.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> This was in part due to the expense of providing "mixed workhouses"<ref name="gloucs1"/> as well as changing attitudes regarding the causes and nature of poverty.<ref>Rees, Rosmary, Poverty and Public Health, 1815–1948, p. 8</ref>

=== Decline and abolition ===
{{main|Decline and abolition of the Poor Law system}}
{{Further|Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905–09|Liberal welfare reforms|Interwar poverty in Britain}}
[[File:David Lloyd George.jpg|upright|thumb|David Lloyd George, architect of the [[Liberal welfare reforms]] which were implemented outside of the Poor Law system and paved the way for the eventual abolition of the Poor Law]]

The Poor Law system began to decline with the availability of other forms of assistance. The growth of [[friendly societies]] provided help for its members without recourse to the Poor Law system. Some [[trade union]]s also provided help for their members. The [[Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act 1885]] meant that people who had accessed medical care funded by the poor rate were no longer disqualified from voting in elections. In 1886 the [[Chamberlain Circular]] encouraged the Local Government Board to set up work projects when unemployment rates were high rather than use workhouses. The Conservatives passed the [[Unemployed Workmen Act 1905]] which provided for temporary employment for workers in times of unemployment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/britain1906to1918/timeline/g2_timeline.htm |title=Britain 1906–18 &#124; Gallery 2 &#124; Timeline |publisher=Learningcurve.gov.uk |access-date=2009-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090506233648/http%3A//www.learningcurve.gov.uk/britain1906to1918/timeline/g2_timeline.htm |archive-date=2009-05-06 }}</ref>

In 1905 a [[Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09|royal commission]] was set up to investigate what changes could be made to the Poor Law.<ref>{{cite book |last=Englander |first=D. |title=Poverty and Poor Law Reform in 19th Century Britain, 1834–1914 |date=1998}}</ref> The commission produced two conflicting reports but both investigations were largely ignored by the Liberal government when implementing their own scheme of [[welfare spending|welfare]] legislation. The [[Liberal welfare reforms|welfare reforms]] of the Liberal government<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/liberalreformsrev1.shtml |title=GCSE Bitesize&nbsp;– The Liberal reforms 1906–1914 |publisher=BBC |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref> made several provisions to provide social services without the stigma of the Poor Law, including [[old age pension]]s and [[National Insurance]], and from that period fewer people were covered by the system.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/britain1906to1918/g2/background.htm |title=The National Archives Learning Curve &#124; Britain 1906–18 &#124; Achievements of Liberal Reforms: Gallery Background |publisher=Learningcurve.gov.uk |access-date=2009-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120213539/http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/britain1906to1918/g2/background.htm |archive-date=2008-11-20 }}</ref> From 1911, the term "workhouse" was replaced by "[[Poor Law Institution]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/local/poorlaw/poorlaw.htm |title=Mike Royden's Local History Pages The 19th Century Poor Law in Liverpool and its Hinterland: Towards the Origins of the Workhouse Infirmary  }}</ref> [[Means test]]s were developed during the inter-war period, not as part of the Poor Law, but as part of the attempt to offer relief that was not affected by the stigma of [[pauperism]]. According to Lees by slowly dismantling the system the Poor Law was "to die by attrition and surgical removals of essential organs".<ref>Lees, Lynn Hollen. The Solidarities of Strangers: The English Poor Laws and the People, 1770–1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.</ref>

During the [[First World War]] there is evidence that some workhouses were used as makeshift hospitals for wounded servicemen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssmjchurchyard.org.uk/the_workhouse.php |title=Ss Mary & John Churchyard::the workhouse |publisher=Ssmjchurchyard.org.uk |access-date=2009-08-18}}</ref><ref>http://www.museumofreading.org.uk/collections/album/pdfs/battle%20hospital%20-%2070.pdf{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Peter Higginbotham |url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ |title=The Workhouse Web Site |publisher=www.workhouses.org.uk |access-date=2009-08-18}}</ref> Numbers using the Poor Law system increased during the interwar years and between 1921 and 1938 despite the extension of unemployment insurance to virtually all workers except the self-employed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/boyer.poor.laws.england |title=Encyclopedia: English Poor Laws |publisher=Eh.net |date=2002-05-07 |access-date=2009-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105105148/http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/boyer.poor.laws.england |archive-date=2010-01-05 }}</ref> Many of these workers were provided with outdoor relief. One aspect of the Poor Law that continued to cause resentment was that the burden of poor relief was not shared equally by rich and poor areas but, rather, fell most heavily on those areas in which poverty was at its worst. This was a central issue in the [[Poplar Rates Rebellion]] led by [[George Lansbury]] and others in 1921.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/george-lansbury-at-the-heart-of-old-labour-by-john-shepherd-605420.html |title=George Lansbury: at the heart of Old Labour by John Shepherd&nbsp;– Reviews, Books |work=The Independent |date=2002-11-26 |access-date=2009-05-17 | location=London | first=Kenneth O | last=Morgan |author-link = Kenneth O. Morgan}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Lansbury had in 1911 written a provocative attack on the workhouse system in a pamphlet entitled ''"[[Smash Up the Workhouse!]]"''.<ref name=workhousesystem>{{cite book |last=Crowther |first=M.A. |title=The workhouse system, 1834–1929 |date=2 March 1983 |publisher=Methuen |isbn=0-416-36090-4}}</ref>

[[Interwar poverty in Britain|Poverty in the interwar years (1918–1939)]] was responsible for several measures which largely killed off the Poor Law system. The [[Board of Guardians (Default) Act 1926]] was passed in response to some [[Boards of Guardians]] supporting the miners during the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|General Strike]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Keith D. |last=Ewing |title=The right to strike |page=93}}</ref> [[Workhouses]] were officially abolished by the [[Local Government Act 1929]],<ref name=workhousesystem/> and between 1929 and 1930 [[Poor Law Guardians]], the "[[workhouse test]]" and the term "[[pauper]]" disappeared. The [[Unemployment Assistance Board]] was set up in 1934 to deal with those not covered by the earlier [[National Insurance Act 1911]] passed by the Liberals, and by 1937 the [[able-bodied poor]] had been absorbed into this scheme. By 1936 only 13% of people were still receiving poor relief in some form of institution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepotteries.org/local_history/010.htm |title=The Poor Law |publisher=Thepotteries.org |date=2008-11-30 |access-date=2009-05-17}}</ref>

In 1948 the Poor Law system was finally abolished with the introduction of the modern [[welfare state]] and the passing of the [[National Assistance Act]].<ref name="publicpolicy1"/> The [[National Health Service Act 1946]] came into force in 1948 and created the modern day [[National Health Service]].<ref>Jones, Kathleen, The making of social policy in Britain, p. 122</ref>