Royal Commission on the Poor Laws 1905-09

• A Royal Commission to enquire the workings of the poor laws and the best way to relieve the poor was set up by the Conservative government in 1905.
• The commission had 20 members: 5 Poor Law guardians, 6 members of the COS, 4 members of the Local Government Board, Charles Booth, Beatrice and Sidney Webb and religious and trade union leaders. Members were far better qualified to address the problems of poverty than those who participated in the Royal Commission in 1832-34.
• The enquiry was far more detailed than the 1832-34 commission. They visited 200 Poor Law unions and 400 institutions, took evidence from 450 witnesses and read through and analysed 900 statements of written evidence.
• The Majority Report:

  • The origins of poverty = moral
  • the Poor Law should remain the main vehicle for dealing with poverty
  • Boards of guardians allowed too much relief and should be replaced by public assistance committees
  • General mixed workhouses didn't deter the able-bodied poor
  • There should be greater co-operation between charities and those administering the Poor Law, and voluntary aid committees should be set up to enable this to happen
• The Minority Report:

  • The origins of poverty = economic
  • A Ministry of Labour should be set up which would introduce and oversee public work schemes, set up a string of national labour exchanges to help the unemployed find jobs, organise a schedule of training schemes and set up detention colonies for those who were deliberately idle
  • The Poor Law administration should be broken up into education committees to deal with child poverty, pension committees to deal with problems of the elderly poor and health committees to deal with problems of the poor who were sick or infirm
• Initially, the majority report was well received. This alarmed Beatrice and Sidney Webb, causing them to launch a campaign for the break-up of the existing Poor Law. In doing so, although they captured the imagination and support of the younger generation, they risked antagonising leading politicians in both the government and the opposition.
• Although, both sides had features in common:

  • both condemned the existing system
  • both criticised the failure of the central government to ensure that local boards of guardians behaved in a uniform way
  • both condemned the continuation, in some unions, of general mixed workhouses
  • both criticised the wasteful overlapping of services provided by the Poor Law guardians and the local government boards
• The problem with setting up a Royal Commission that produces 2 opposed reports is that the government doesn't feel compelled to act on either set of recommendations. Although, the work of the commission gave the problem of poverty, and investigations into the causes of poverty, a high profile.
• The Royal Commission established certain principles for welfare reform in the 20th century:

  • poverty as a condition was not always the fault of the poor
  • government should take responsibility for improving the situation of the poorest members of society
  • Poor Law Unions and Boards of Guardians should be abolished and replaced by Public Assistance Committees that would work closely with local voluntary agencies