Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the Poor Law of 1601 and attempted to fundamentally change the poverty relief system in England and Wales (similar changes were made to the poor law for Scotland in 1845). It resulted from the 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws, which included Edwin Chadwick, John Bird Sumner and Nassau William Senior. Chadwick was dissatisfied with the law that resulted from his report. The Act was passed two years after the 1832 Reform Act extended the franchise to middle class men. Some historians have argued that this was a major factor in the PLAA being passed.

The Act has been described as "the classic example of the fundamental Whig-Benthamite reforming legislation of the period". Its theoretical basis was Thomas Malthus's principle that population increased faster than resources unless checked, the "iron law of wages" and Jeremy Bentham's doctrine that people did what was pleasant and would tend to claim relief rather than working.
The Act was intended to curb the cost of poor relief and address abuses of the old system, prevalent in southern agricultural counties, by enabling a new system to be brought in under which relief would only be given in workhouses, and conditions in workhouses would be such as to deter any but the truly destitute from applying for relief. The Act was passed by large majorities in Parliament, with only a few Radicals (such as William Cobbett) voting against. The act was implemented, but the full rigours of the intended system were never applied in Northern industrial areas; however, the apprehension that they would be contributed to the social unrest of the period.

The importance of the Poor Law declined with the rise of the welfare state in the 20th century. In 1948, the PLAA was repealed by the National Assistance Act 1948, which created the National Assistance Board to act as a residual relief agency.
Q1076579
Act
TIME
Q11010
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Concept
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Whig
Concept
Q294662
Earl Grey
PER
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Poor Law of 1601
LOC
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poverty relief system
Concept
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poor law
MEDIA
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1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws
ORG
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Edwin Chadwick
PER
Q549733
John Bird Sumner
PER
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Nassau William Senior
PER
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1832 Reform Act
EVE
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franchise
Concept
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Benthamite
PER
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Thomas Malthus
PER
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iron law of wages
Concept
Q60887
Jeremy Bentham
PER
Q681925
poor relief
MEDIA
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workhouse
Concept
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William Cobbett
PER
Q192451
welfare state
Concept
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National Assistance Act 1948
EVE
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National Assistance Board
UNK
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Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
LOC
1834-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1834
DATE
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1845-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
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1948
DATE
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1948
DATE
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20
NUMBER
legislated by
member of political party
publication date
publication date