The Welfare Measures of 1906-1911 and the Poor Law - Essay Example

?How The Welfare Measure Of The Period 1906 – 1912 Differed From The Poor Law Assistance Of The Nineteenth Century. England is a nation that has seena lot of law reforms being introduced while abolishing those perceived to oppress its citizens. Historically England operated under Poor Laws, which came into existence out of Tudor-era and late medieval laws before beingcodified in 1587-1598. This law operated for a very long time until the emergence of modern welfare state, which was perceived to provide solutions to the shortfalls of the Poor Laws (Basley and Coate 1992 p.249). The legislation of the English Poor Laws can be traced back to 1536, when a law was passed by the national assembly to deal with impotent poor, to operate alongside Tudor laws that dealt mostly with problems caused by beggars and vagrants. Typically, the English Poor Laws are divided between two statutes: the Old Poor Law, which came into operation after its passage during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the New Poor Law, passed in 1834, which to a great extent modified the Old poor law. This changed the Poor Law system from one administered at the local parish level to a more centralized system, which promoted the large-scale development of Poor Law Union and Workhouses (Boyer 1985 p.129-167). However, the Poor Law system lost its ground at the beginning of 20th century due to factors such as availability of other sources of assistance from trade unions, friendly societies, and the Liberal welfare reforms (Crowther1981 p. 68-113). The liberal welfare reform, for instance, is argued to have offered a more modern approach to helping the needy in England. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the welfare measure of the period 1906-1912 differed from the Poor Law assistance of the Nineteenth century. It will also discuss how the welfare measure offered a more modern approach to helping the needy in England. The Old Poor Law and New Poor Law of the nineteenth Century Besley, Coate and Guinnane (2001 p.3) notes that, the Old Poor Law operated on two basic principles: relief administered locally and those charged with the responsibility of making decisions about poor relief had a wide latitude with regard to the type and amount of relief to give out. It was a statutory right to provide poor relief to any individual who was believed to be deserving. However, many concerns raised about the Old Poor Law led to an enactment of the New Poor Law in 1834 to replace the Old poor law (Rose 1971 p.34-46). The New poor law is argued to have changed both the obligation of the local authorities and the form of the poor relief as was earlier administered by the Old poor law. Thane (1995 P.34) notes that both the Old and the New Poor Laws provided a variety of services, but this was strictly for the destitute people who could prove that they are deserving and that they have no access to other resources such as family, paid work, charity and friends. In fact, even the old in their eighties would be expected to earn what they could from paid job under the Poor laws as long as they thought capable of doing so (Baug 1963 p.153). Thane reveals that, under the English Poor laws, the majority of those who were assisted were the old people, children and widows in the society, who were seen to be deserving poor. Fit jobless men received short shrift, except for a short period towards the end of the 18th century when destitution reality was unmistakably and vibrantly worked (Williams 1981 p.92-108). The law excluded members of the community who were not accepted. This was done under the settlements Act. The law sanctioned the payment of relief only in the parish of the claimant of settlement, which was established by marriage of a woman, birth, or by working in the parish and long residence. Both the Old and the New Poor Laws also varied to a large extent in their practices from time to time and from one place to another. For instance, under the Old Poor Law, close to 15,000 parishes, in which some of them were tiny, were under obligation to satisfy the local needs totally from the parish’s own taxation (Thane 1995 p.34). The welfare measures The welfare measure of England is argued to have brought with it a lot of benefits to the people of England than did the Poor Law assistance. This is mainly because it catered for a large number of people in the society, unlike the Poor Laws, which mainly provided for the destitute and the deserving alone. This is after the introduction of the liberal reforms of 1906-1914. The welfare measures recognized the need of people of every class, whether old, young, sick or unemployed and the disabled. For instance, unlike with the Poor Laws, the modern welfare recognized the need of children by ensuring that a law is passed compelling the local authorities to offer free school meals. The enactment of this law in 1906 indeed promoted education among children in England as no one was left to suffer out of hunger in schools because of poverty. This is because every child could afford at least one good meal daily (Thomson 1963 p.17-64). The welfare measure is also seen to have provided a more modern assistance to the needy in England by introducing a children’s Charter in 1908. The purpose of the charter was to impose severe punishment to individuals who neglected or mistreated children. In this regard, this law illegalized the selling cigarettes or sending them to streets to beg. Indeed this helped reduce irresponsibility among many parents in England. This also ensured that juvenile courts for children are established to host children convicted of crime (Handel 2008 p.35-62). Unlike with the Poor Law assistance that only concentrated on providing relief assistance to the poor old people, widow and children, welfare measure provided a more modern assistance by introducing a pension scheme for the old over 70s. In this case, the pensions gave them 5s weekly or at time 7s 6d to married couples. This indeed helped uplift the living standards of the old and widows. Moreover, this measure helped keep many old people out of the workhouse as opposed to the Poor Laws (Himmelfarb 1948 p.112-125). The welfare measure also recognized the plight of needy youths in the society with regard to unemployed. A good example is the 1909 labor exchange law, which was established to assist the jobless, find employment (BBC-GCSE Bitesize (n.d)). This indeed helped reduce the number of unemployed in England. This is in contrast to the Poor Laws, which only provided relief assistance to the jobless by giving out things like relief food and money. It is reported that this exchange measure helped see many people get employed. For example, by 1914, about one million people had gotten employment through labor exchange. This approach employed by welfare is more modern as it acts as a long-term strategy to reducing the rate of unemployment in the country. This explains why there is relatively low unemployment rate in England currently compared to the past when the country was governed under Poor Law (Hay 1983 p.66-71). The passage of the National Insurance Act in 1911 was ultimately another more modern way of helping the needy in England (Derek 1973 P.16-37). This is because the act gave people of England the right to free medical treatment as provided for in part I of the act. Moreover, the act also created a sick pay of 10s weekly for a period of 26 weeks in return for a 4d weekly payment. The fact that the measure provided for free medical treatment, indeed helped improve the health standards of the poor in the society that would have otherwise suffered or died for lack of treatment for lack of money. Part II of the National Insurance Act under the welfare measure, which gave people the right to unemployment pay (dole) of 7s 6d weekly for a period of 15 weeks, in return for a 2.5d weekly payment also helped in uplifting the living standards of the needy in England. This is in contrast with the strategy used under the Poor Laws where relief could only be provided by the local parish when money is available (Hay 1983 p.66-71). In conclusion, the welfare measures indeed used a more modern approach for helping the needy in England as opposed to the strategies employed under Poor Laws. However, a lot still needs to be done to ensure that the plight of the needy are resolved amicably. References Basley, T., Coate, S., & Guinnene, T. (2001). Incentives, information, and welfare: England’s New Poor Law and the Workhouse Test. May. Basley, T. & Coate, S. (1992). “Workforce Vs Welfare: Incentive arguments for work requirements in poverty alleviation programs.” American Economic Review, 82 (Mach): 249-261. Baug, M. (1963). “The myth of the Old Poor Law and the making of the New.” Journal of Economic History. 23: 151-184. BBC-GCSE Bitesize (n.d). The liberal reforms 1906-1914. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/liberalreformsrev_print.shtml. Boyer, G. (1985). “An Economic Model of the English Poor Law circa 1780-1834.” Explorations in Economic History. 22: 129-167. Crowther, M.A. (1981). The workhouse System 1834-1929. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. Derek, F. (1973). The evolution of the British welfare state. New York: Barnes & Noble. Handel, G. (2008). Social welfare in Western Society. Oxford: Transaction Publishers. Hay, J.R. (1983). The origins of the liberal welfare reforms 1906-1914. London: Macmillan. Himmelfarb, G. (1948). The idea of poverty. New York: Knopf. Rose, M.E. (1971) The English Poor Law 1780-1930. New York: Barnes and Noble. Thane, P. (1995). Histories of the welfare state. Today’s welfare states. University of London. Thomson, E.P. (1963). The making of the English working class. London: Victor Gollancz. Williams, K. (1981). From pauperism to poverty. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Read More