Because the system was administered at a small scale, at the parish
level, its administration had become expensive. Also, the outdoor relief
which was given in aid of wages was paid in proportion to the number of
children supported - whether legitimate or not. In many parishes, the
Poor Rate exceeded farmers' rents.
Thus the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 recognised the difference
between pauperism and poverty and provided that no outdoor relief should
be given to the able-bodied other than medical attendance. The able
bodied who sought indoor relief were subjected to the workhouse test.
The provisions for settlement which were introduced in the
1662 Act were proving an obstacle to
the movement of labour and were ammended. Such obstacles to the movement of
labour may not have been important in the predominantly agricultural 17th
century but assumed a vital importance during the 19th century
industrial revolution.
The legislation was based on the innacurate, at best, findings of the Poor Law Commissions of 1832.
Parishes were grouped into unions for the purpose of administering the poor law and this led to very significant economies of scale as well as the savings made by restricting relief only to that available in the workhouse. The Act removed admnistration of poor relief from the control of local parishioners and brought it outside the control of government institutions, passing it to an elected body of officials, a central Poor Law Board supervising the workings of the Act and representing a central authority and middle-class values.
The sudden changes to grants and the harsh application of the workhouse test caused considerable hardship and discontent amongst the poor. Financialy, however, the changes were a success - within the first five years after the introduction of the Act, the country's poor rate had been reduced by £3-million; annualy, a very significant proportion of these savings having been achieved by the greater efficiency of the parish unions.
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Many of the Members of Parliament who voted the Poor Law Amendment Act into law were rural landowners from the south of England who had been devastated by bad harvests and the "swing riots" while the prices of corn on which they depended for their income were at an appalling low.
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The harsh changes aimed at reducing the burden on the poor rate where primarily aimed at discouraging the able-bodied from fallng on the parish rate but hit the infirm, aged and the very young severly.
