Social Policies In The Poor Law ( 1834.

Social policies are defined as actions taken by governing bodies such as schools or welfare systems that create action in society and cause implications for its members, they’re

Social policies often are based on the government’s philosophies and ideologies. In 19th century, Britain had the Laissez-faire approach which led the economic life. This meant that there was not government’s interference.

The basic principles of the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601 were “local investigation and administration of relief, work as a component of all assistance, and categorization of the poor into three groups: the able-bodied poor, the impotent poor, and dependent children” (Day & Schiele, 2013, p. 104). Basically, creating a welfare system to help assist the poor, implementing programs to get people working, and categorizing the poor as worthy or unworthy poor. Examples of this in the present social welfare system are TANF, unemployment insurance, Social Security, SSI, and SDI. Within the TANF and unemployment program, there is a job search requirement to encourage people to find work. Also, much like the Elizabethan Poor Laws, people are categorized to receive specific benefits based on whether they can work or not, like SSI, which is for people who are currently unable to work because of old age or disability.

Over the last century health and social care has changed and developed immensely with the implementation of the NHS and becoming a welfare state. Prior to this health care was only available to a minority of people, those who could afford it. In 1815 the old poor law was passed, it stated that each parish must look after its own poor and those who could not work were provided enough money to help them survive. By 1830 the poor law cost around £7 million, which came from taxing the middle and upper class, causing a sense of resentment towards lower class, unemployed people. In 1834 the new poor law was passed, its aim was to reduce the cost of looking after the poor. Workhouses helped with this, they provided clothes, food and healthcare in return for manual labour. Despite

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the amount of poor Americans grew rapidly. People contributed to helping the poor because it was in their eyes seen as a moral obligation, a religious duty, or financial responsibility. At this time there were charities and government aid, however these weren't sufficient enough to solve the problem. "Between the drafting of the Constitution on 1787 and a financial depression starting in 1837, poverty was the most pressing social issue facing the united states." People at this time were very optimistic in the fact that they could eradicate poverty, and banish it altogether.

In the UK, policies are in place in order to protect us and help enforce diversity and equality. Sometimes they are not always positively impacted on our society and public services; they can be negative as well. In this assignment, I will cover both the impacts of government policies on the public services and how society is affected.

First, she encouraged the blend of protestant and Catholic beliefs throughout her rule.The Anglican was established during 1559 under her lead; it accepted some of the Catholic traditions along with the Protestant Reforms. This conformed to the standards of the Elizabethan society by considering compromises, strengthening England’s power, and developing a sense of unity between Protestants and Catholic (Beck, Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka 60). In addition, Queen Elizabeth created the Poor Laws throughout 1563-1601, which were a series of laws that established a tax that would benefit the poor by decreasing poverty ( Briscoe, Alexandra “Poverty in the Elizabethan Era”). Furthermore, establishing the Poor Laws was a change that conformed to the expectations of society because Queen Elizabeth took the needs of people into account which resulted in England’s social and economic growth during the

Different attitudes to social welfare reforms from the 19th century onwards depended on what lifestyle a person was living in. If a person was wealthy, they enjoyed an easy life. However, on the other hand, if the person was poor then that would make their life harder and difficult to live. Any able-bodied poor person able to work did not receive help from the authorities. They only entered the workhouse because they were desperate. People within the workhouses lived in terrible conditions, overcrowded, poor hygiene. Another name given to the workhouse was ‘’the slums’’ (Tom, 2016). Strict rules were put into place. If rules were broken severe punishment would follow. Inmates of the workhouse were treated harshly. They all worked long hours

The Poor Law act 1601 was introduced and classified the poor into three groups, setting policies for each, the impotent poor, able bodied poor and persistent idler. It viewed poverty as the fault of the person, not their situation. Following industrialisation and a decrease in agricultural jobs, workers moved to factories working for low pay and in appalling conditions, but those needing employment outweighed the availability of such.

For centuries, nations, cities, and individual families have dealt with the problem of poverty; how to remedy current situations and how to prevent future ones. For most of history, there have been no government controlled poverty assistance programs. The poor simply relied on the goodness of their families or, if they did not have a family, on the generosity of the public at large. In the United States, this situation changed in 1935 with the passage of the Social Security Act. The Social Security Act has seen many successes, but it also faces many critiques of its structure and function. In the past, most governments did little to actively aid their poor population. This duty was

To gain a better understanding of Social Policy we need to look at its definition:

One of the main motivating factors behind this desire towards a welfare state was the universal hatred of the so called "Poor laws." These were a series of laws governing aid (feeding, education, and health) to the poorest of society. The first passed in 1598 and not until 1948 did the last one of them get eliminated. The basic idea behind these laws

The Poor Law was introduced because it was too much money to pay to look after the poor, so in hopes to take the poor off the streets and to stop money going to the poor the government introduced the law in 1834. The law was also put in place to embolden the poor to get back into work and support themselves, There was a law before 1834 called the "Old Poor Law" this was found to be insufficient because there was nothing in place to help the poor because even though they set up workhouses for the poor they didn't offer accommodation for the poor. There was an act passed in 1795 called "The Speenhamland System" which allowed employers to pay their workers exceptionally low wages during these years the middle and the upper classes were getting more angry because they were the ones paying for the poor who would avoid not going to or do any work.

During the early nineteenth century poverty was major issue, the Poor Law passed earlier in the Tudor period put responsibility on local parishes to pay tax to help the poor. However, over the years the financial strain on parishes became too much and in 1834 The Poor Amendment Act was passed. This was to help reduce the cost of looking after the poor and it was to stop the payment of tax unless you had special circumstances. If the poor wanted help they had to go in to workhouses and work, in exchange for clothes, food, free healthcare and a few hours of schooling for children. The poor had no choice but to go in there for help. On one hand The Poor Amendment Act 1834 was good as it gave the poor free food, shelter, healthcare and education for their children. However, the conditions in the work houses were made so awful that people would avoid going in there unless they were really desperate. The diet was bad, families were spilt up and the people in there had to wear uniform.

Every political party contesting the present parliamentary elections issues what is known as a 'manifesto' or 'electoral programme', in which it promises a number of policy initiatives that are intended to benefit different social groups, such as businesses, the elderly, university students and many others. These 'manifestos' remind us of the essential purpose of politics and public policy, which is to help create 'the Good Society'. 'The Good Society' means different things to different people, and its meaning changes from time to time. For example, when Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom speaks of creating 'the Great Society', he has in mind a