Development of the Welfare State since Poor Law Amendment Act 1834

This article discusses the development of the welfare state in the UK since the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. It covers major acts and policies that shaped social policy, including the Public Health Act, Education Act, National Insurance Act, and National Health Service Act. The article is relevant to students studying social policy under BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care - HSO4002.

Development of the Welfare State since Poor Law
Amendment Act 1834
Course name: BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care
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Module Code: HSO4002
Module Title: Social Policy
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1.Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 It allowed the people who were able to
prove themselves poor into the workhouse
as there was no help outside the workhouse
for the able-bodied poor.
2. The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1845 It allowed the people who were disabled,
widow, children and deserted wives into
poorhouse. The able-bodied poor were not
allowed in poorhouse without working but
were not forced to work either.
3.The Public Health Act, 1848 This act made it possible to build sewers in
order to allow the authorities to do
something rather than being compelled
(Gulland, 2019). It excluded the London
with opposition of construction of sewers
that was done on the grounds of cost.
4. The Sanitisation Act, 1866 This act led to the making of 'local boards of
health'. It brought Scotland in 1867
5. The Education Act, 1870 This act provided free and compulsory
education to children at the age of 12 years
to later 14 years.
6. The Public Health Act, 1872 The Poor law authorities was used as there
was no one in the rural area to take on the
new responsibility which further defined the
role of either town councils or Poor Law
Boards of Guardians.
7.The Public Health Act, 1875 This act was a consolidatory measure.
8. The Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905 The grants were made available to
businesses or local authorities in order to
hire more workers (Newdick,2018).
9. The Education Act, 1906 It provided free meals in schools through

this act.
10.The Medical Service, 1907 It allowed free medical services to children
in schools with consideration of their health
and safety.
11.The Old Age Pensions, 1908 The pension provided to old aged people
was non-contributory but prevented such
service to paupers.
12.The Labour Exchanges, 1909 It introduced new job centres through labour
exchanges (Parker, 2018)
13. The National Insurance Act, 1911 This act covered and managed the area of
medical care and unemployment.
14. The Addison Act, 1919 It introduced the first major finance for
council housing.
15. The Government of Ireland Act, 1920 This act allowed home rule in order to cut
off independence as there were devolved
powers that were retained by Northern
Ireland in order to continue the hold of
Republic of Ireland that was left by the UK.
16. Widows, Orphans and Old Age
Contributory Pensions Act, 1925
This act replaced the insurance system for
the widows, orphans and old age people.
17. The Local Government Act, 1929 The local authorities replace the Poor Law
Boards of Guardians where the local
authorities had the responsibility of the
hospitals.
18. The Local Government Act, 1929 The Poor law infirmaries were managed
with the responsibility that was transferred
from the Poor Law that was further
administered to local authorities
19. The Unemployment Act, 1934 It set up an Unemployment Assistance

Board and even introduced the means of
household in order to carry forward the
system of national assistance.
20. The Education Act, 1944 It allowed free universal secondary
education to the needy children.
21. The Education Act, 1944 This act legislated that the leaving age for
children should be at the age of 14. The
children from 5-10 class were considered in
junior class while the children in 11-14 were
considered in senior class.
22. The Family Allowance Act, 1945 It allowed to take care of two or more
children with a scheme of allowance for
families through the Family Allowance Act
(Ritch, 2019)
23. The Family Allowance Act, 1945 This act maintained the family through
Family Allowance Act in order to protect
the security of families.
24. The National Insurance Act, 1946 This act provided insurance and security to
families in order to protect their finances.
25. The National Health Service Act, 1946 It protected the health of children in order to
secure their health and safety.
26. The National Health Service Act, 1946 This act replaced the Poor Law through
National Assistance Board.
27. The National Insurance Act, 1946 The labour government was elected in 1945,
through which the National Insurance act
was introduced which enforced the
Beveridge scheme for the purpose of social
security.
28. The National Assistance Act, 1948 This act was introduced through the labor
government that made provisions for the

welfare services by abolishing the Poor
Law.
29. The Children Act, 1948 It legislated the care of children by creating
different departments (Scally, 2020). The
care of children was taken through
professional care where social workers
would work with families of children.
30. The Children Act, 1948 It established the departments of local
authority in order to provide effective care
to children.

Bibliography (Level HE4 guidance - it is expected that the Reference List will contain
between five and ten sources. As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include one
refereed academic journal and three academic books)
References
Gulland, J., 2019. From National Insurance in 1911 to Employment and Support Allowance.
In Gender, Work and Social Control (pp. 23-31). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Newdick, C., 2018. Resource Allocation in the National Health Service. In Rights and
Resources (pp. 437-464). Routledge.
Parker, R.A., 2018. The gestation of reform: the Children Act 1948. In Approaches to
Welfare (pp. 196-217). Routledge.
Ritch, A., 2019. Sickness in the Workhouse: Poor Law Medical Care in Provincial England,
1834-1914 (Vol. 48). Rochester Studies in Medical H.
Scally, G., 2020. The demise of Public Health England. bmj, 370.