The Decline and abolition of the Poor Law system in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

can be traced to around 1870 when the proportion of the population on poor relief began to fall rapidly; this trend continued until the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914. The demise of the Poor Law system can largely be attributed to the availability of alternative sources of assistance, including membership of

friendly societies A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual org ...

and

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. Local government began to offer work relief outside of the Poor Law system, and the interventionism of the Liberal government in their

Liberal reforms The Liberal welfare reforms (1906–1914) were a series of acts of social legislation passed by the Liberal Party after the 1906 general election. They represent the emergence of the modern welfare state in the United Kingdom. The reforms demons ...

paved the way for the abolition of the Poor Law. Use of the Poor Law system increased during the interwar years due to high levels of unemployment. The

Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their board ...

abolished Poor Law Unions and transferred the administration of poor relief to local government, leaving the Poor Law system largely redundant. In 1934 the

Unemployment Assistance Board The Unemployment Assistance Board was a body created in Britain by the Unemployment Act 1934 due to the high levels of inter-war poverty in Britain. The Board kept a system of means-tested benefit A means test is a determination of whether an in ...

gained responsibility for the unemployed, and from 1945-1948 the modern welfare state was introduced, including the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. The

National Assistance Act The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social s ...

1948 repealed all Poor Law legislation.

References

{{Poor Law English Poor Laws