British Social Welfare and Elizabethan

British Social Welfare and Elizabethan Poor Laws (EPL)

British social welfare policy was heavily dependent on the structure introduced for welfare by Elizabethan Poor Laws in 16th century. This structure continued to influence British social welfare policy till early 20th century when it was reformed and restructured to meet the increasing population of urban poor after industrialization. As the population migration from rural to urban areas increased in the 16th century, numerous social and policy problems were encountered by British government of the time. This gave rise to the Poor Laws of 1601 that provided a clear definition of 'poor' and explained who was to benefit from welfare.

The law provided for creation of position of overseers in each parish who were allowed to raise, "weekly or otherwise, by taxation of every inhabitant, such competent sums of money as they shall think fit." This money was meant to be used for providing for children who had no means of financial support, for married or unmarried poor people with no economic help, to help put poor back in the workforce and to provided necessary relief to old and disabled.

British social welfare policy had undergone some massive changes in recent times. It was completely overhauled in 1970s after which amendments and reforms have regularly been introduced to meet the demands of increasing unemployment, child issues and other social problems. However despite all this, social welfare in the United Kingdom is sternly criticized for its loopholes and cracks. It was the inefficiency of social welfare system which has led to alarming increase in social ills. The Christian Science Monitor article of September 2003 lashed out against height of inefficiency witnessed in social welfare system which couldn't save a small 8-year-old from dying because of adult cruelty. Victoria Climbie was regularly subjected to severe beatings by her aunt that resulted in her death. Throughout her extreme torturous stay in the UK, several agencies came to learn about her condition but they failed to do anything which ultimately caused the little child her life. "The girl came into contact with no fewer than 12 official agencies - hospitals, child-protection teams, social-services departments - during her short, brutal stay in Britain." The social welfare policy is so inefficiently implemented that children continue to suffer extreme brutality and Britain has the worst child abuse scenario. "And over the past 30 years, at least one child has died every week in Britain as a result of an adult's cruelty. Last year, 76 minors were homicide victims."

The child has lost her life and the government is now trying to take actions to revamp the system. Under the new system, Children's Trusts will be set up "at the local level to bring experts - psychologists, social workers, education officials - together, with a local director ultimately accountable."

There may appear to be few similarities between EPL and current social welfare policy but when we closely study their impact, we fail to accept the notion that a lot has changed. EPL was ineffective in controlling child-related problems. Children were subjected to cruel working conditions, they had hardly any proper means of nutrition and overseers probably did not care much about them. The same is true today. While there are protection agencies, social workers and others working for welfare of children, there is little if any improvement in their condition especially in the cases of child abuse. Children are still regularly being subjected to inhumane treatment by cruel adults.

The only difference we really notice is in the case of working age which had helped in reduction of child labor. Underage children are no longer allowed to work and their welfare is supposedly government's responsibility. However in other areas, children continue to suffer.