COS (Depth 3)

• The Charity Organisation Society (COS) was founded in 1869 with the aim of co-ordinating the work of private charities. It was a powerful organisation supported by influential people: members of the House of Commons, the aristocracy, the armed forces, the professions and the Established Church.
• The 3 main aims of the society were:

  • co-operation with the PL authorities at a local level to establish a clear division between the work of the PL authorities and voluntary charities
  • organisation of the work of other charities, to better co-ordinate their efforts and ensure charitable relief was appropriately given
  • ensuring only the deserving were in receipt of charitable relief by supporting the use of casework, whereby only those categorised as 'deserving' would be helped
• Members of the COS believed charity was not a right but a gift, given at the discretion of the giver. It should only be given, they believed, to the deserving poor, who would be offered limited charity to help them get back on their feet. The benefits of those selected for relief had to be both moral and material, and the relief was intended to reform the behaviour of the recipient as well as to put food on the table. Relief was to be temporary and designed to be a permanent benefit to the recipient, whose lifestyle would be forever changed.
• COS branches were founded in a number of towns and cities, but it wasn't a national organisation. Its federal structure meant that local branches tended to work in a fairly autonomous way. For example, the Liverpool branch continued to give direct relief to the poor of Liverpool, while the District Provident Society in Manchester made little effort to co-ordinate the work of different charities in their area.
• The COS's publicity and propaganda emphasised its success in working with the new Poor Law and its ability to target relief to those who deserved it. Most applying for relief were turned down for being 'undeserving'.
• The COS (Failures):

  • Provincial branches often failed to recruit sufficient volunteers or raise funds
  • The investigative methods of the COS volunteers were resented by the poor
  • Many charities became alienated by what they saw as the overbearing COS and preferred to raise their own funds and dispense it how they saw fit
  • Boards of guardians had strained relationships with the local COS branches
• The COS (Successes):

  • The views of its intellectual supporters were listened to in the corridors of power. They were regarded as experts on poverty and charity and members of the COS readily gave evidence to enquires on social problems.
  • By 1880, the COS had established practices and procedures that it used when visiting poor families, collecting information in a systematic way, enabling comparisons to be made between applicants. This was to form the basis of later social work and social work training.