The Poor Laws of England & Wales

The poor laws were designed to relieve poverty by providing a system of poor relief. Their origins lay in the late medieval and Tudor periods, and they lasted until the early 20th Century when their demise was instigated by changes that cumulated in the establishment of the modern welfare state. The two main poor laws of England and Wales are the Old Poor Law, which was established in 1601, and the New Poor Law of 1834 which overhauled the previous 200 year old system.

The Old Poor Law

Many poor laws shaped the old poor law system, each one making changes or amending the system. Because of this, a more detailed account of how the system evolved can be found on the Old Poor Law page of this site and what is presented in this section a brief overview.

The old poor law system made the alleviation of poverty the responsibility of the parish. A rate of tax was imposed upon the landowners and tenets of the parish, known as the poor rate, which was calculated and collected by the Overseers of the Poor. These funds were then used to provide relief for the poor in one of either two forms, indoor or outdoor relief.

Indoor relief was that which was provided inside a workhouse and was mainly for the elderly, the sick and orphans. Inside the workhouse, the inmates were provided with raw materials such as hemp and flax in order that they may be set to work. In return the workhouse management would feed and clothe them. Initially, such materials were also supplied to the unemployed and able-bodied so that they may work in their own home but this practice died out.

Outdoor relief was the most common type as it was cheaper than the more expensive indoor relief. Money, food or clothes, as determined by the individual needs of the poor, were provided for through the poor relief. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, those who were unemployed were found work on nearby land and their wages were supplemented by money from the poor rate.

The interpretation of these various laws meant that the poor relief system often varied between parishes. Consequently the amount of relief supplied to paupers, people in receipt of poor relief, also varied between parishes. Inevitable people began to move and seek poor relief from a more generous parish.

This led to the Act of Settlement of 1662 which meant that if people were to claim poor relief, they must prove that their place of settlement was the parish to which they submitted the claim. If they were unable to do so they were removed by law to another parish. For many, this was the start of a continual process of being buffeted between several parishes. Later on, a settlement certificate was issued to those people who moved to another parish. Should the person fall upon hard times, the certificate assured the new parish that their home parish who issued the certificate would pay for the removal costs so that the person could be relocated back in their home parish from where poor relief may be claimed. The Act of Settlement of 1662 page provides more information.

As times changed the need for a radical review of the poor relief system increased and in 1834 the New Poor Law was introduced.

The New Poor Law

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the old poor law system was felt to be too costly and some felt that it encouraged the underlying problems. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 represented an overhaul of the complete poor law system and was designed to reduce the poor rate.

Under its terms, the Poor Law Commission was established in order to administrate of the new system across the country. The parishes of England and Wales were divided up and organised into administration districts called Poor Law Unions. Previously formed unions which had been formed under the old poor law system were exempt from this administration. See Gilbert’s Act of 1782 for more information. Each union was run by an elected Board of Guardians who were responsible for building and maintaining a workhouse in the union and ensuring that it was ran according to the principles of less eligibility.

Less eligibility stated that the conditions inside the workhouse should be worse than those of the worst job possible outside the workhouse. It was about discipline and not material conditions, and was designed to deter entry into the workhouse. The system of less eligibility in the workhouse meant that inmates were separated on entry into different categories, causing families to be divided, and they were provided with plain, frugal but ‘sufficient’ food. They had to wear the workhouse uniform and obtain permission to leave the workhouse. Tobacco and spirits were banned. The able-bodied inmates were given work such as crushing bones for fertilizer, stone-breaking or oakum picking. In some workhouses work was based upon the local industries of the area such as straw plaiting or punnet making. These jobs were also given to prison inmates.

Whilst the workhouse was a deterrent to the able-bodied poor, at the same time, it was also a humane refuge for the sick and helpless. Two concepts that proved difficult to mold together. The workhouse was also a school, a hospital, an old peoples’ home, an asylum and a refuge for the homeless as well as being the last resort for the unemployed.

Under the Act, outdoor relief was prohibited but outlawed. However it became difficult to adhere to as supplying poor relief on a purely indoor basis was not easy. In 1842 the poor law commission issued a general policy known as the Outdoor Labour Test Order which meant that unemployed men would be supplied outdoor relief, half of which had to be food and clothing, if they were able to complete physical work such as stone-breaking or oakum picking.

The method of financing the new system remained the same as that of the old, and property owners remained subject of a “poor rate” levy. The Union Chargeability Act of 1865, saw the cost of poor relief move from the parish to the union as each parish contributed to a union fund based on its rateable value instead of the number of paupers it had.

The union also became the place of settlement, rather than the parish, and the Poor Law Commission was replaced by the Poor Law Board in 1847.

The Poor Law system was finally abolished in 1948 when the modern welfare state was introduced with the passing of the National Assistance Act.