| AdminHistory | Up until the New Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, poor relief was administered at parish level by the Overseers of the Poor, although they could, under Gilbert’s Act of 1782, group together to form unions. Under the new Act parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, each with a workhouse, and run by a Board of Guardians. Birmingham remained a single parish union until 1910, when Aston, Northfield and Kings Norton were merged with it.
By 1930, under the terms of the Local Government Act of 1929, though the poor law system continued until 1948, the Boards of Guardians, the Union and the Workhouse system was abolished, with the responsibility poor relief falling onto the City Council, which set up the Public Assistance Committee to fulfil this role. The Act also brought poor law infirmaries and fever hospitals into line with other municipal services, opening them up to all those in need, without the sense of stigma attached to seeking help of the Boards of Guardians. The Distress Committee (see BCC/1/BJ), which was set up to administer the Unemployed Workmen’s Act, 1905, was combined with the new Public Assistance Committee in April 1930.
The workhouses were abolished but the Public Assistance Committee offered more than out-door relief only. The committee ran several homes for different classes of patient, such as Quinton Hall for aged men, Highbury for aged women and Summer Hill for both sexes and children. The two largest of these institutions were Western House, which had 1847 beds, for both sexes, able-bodied, aged and infirm, venereal and cutaneous, nursery children and vagrants, and Erdington Hall, which housed 1929 beds, for both sexes, semi-able-bodied, aged and infirm and the mentally ill. The Poor Law infirmaries, such as Selly Oak, were now to be administered by the Public Health Committee as hospitals (see BCC 1/BM), while the children’s homes were now to be administered by the Education Committee (see BCC/1/BH).
Outdoor relief was means tested and paid at a scaled rated according to circumstances, such as age, the number of dependants, income, sickness (for which medical certification was needed) and the need for fuel; claims were reviewed regularly by the Relieving Officer. Recipients of relief were to be persons of good character, who, having resided in Birmingham for twelve months, proved unable to obtain employment. The committee also operated work schemes, such as those operated by the former Distress (later Migration and Assistance) Committee, digging drainage, park work and street cleaning. Public Assistance Committee payments rose during the Second World War, as extra relief was sought due to air-raid damage and by the wives of servicemen.
The committee was supported by several sectional sub-committees that reviewed the applications for assistance. The committee also continued the policy of the former Distress (later Migration and Assistance) Committee which became a sub-committee of the Public Assistance Committee, seeking out individuals and families that wished to emigrate from or be relocated within Great Britain, and supporting them in their plans.
On the passing of the National Assistance Act, 1948, the Public Assistance Committee was disestablished. The Act abolished both the old Poor Law and most of the legislation under which the Assistance Board had acted, and its functions passed to the Children's Committee (see BCC/1/CT), Welfare Committee (see BCC/1/CU), the new National Health Service and the National Assistance Board. The committee's main function, namely assisting persons whose resources were insufficient to meet their needs, was passed to the National Assistance Board, and distinctions between different groups of persons in need were replaced by a single system of national assistance administered by the board. The board was also made responsible for provisions for the temporary shelter and welfare of persons without a settled way of living, non-contributory old age pensions and means for persons seeking legal aid. In 1966 the National Assistance Board was abolished and its functions passed to the Ministry of Social Security. |