Less eligibility was in some cases impossible without starving paupers and the high cost of building workhouses incurred by rate payers meant that outdoor relief continued to be a popular alternative.
32.
The 1601 Act sought to deal with'settled'poor who had found themselves temporarily out of work it was assumed they would accept indoor relief or outdoor relief.
33.
In contrast to the regulations in England and Wales the establishment of poorhouses was optional, and outdoor relief could still be provided, which remained the preferred choice of most parishes.
34.
The economic crisis after 1929 led to a political crisis in mid-1931 and MacDonald failed to secure agreement in cabinet for his proposed cuts in'outdoor relief'for the unemployed.
35.
Although the Poor Law Amendment Act did not ban all forms of outdoor relief, it stated that no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse.
36.
Although supportive of the government's introduction of old-age pensions in 1908, Burns was opposed to the provision of government aid to the unemployed, arguing that no outdoor relief should be given to the poor.
37.
The introduction of pensions for those aged over 70 in 1908 did not result in a reduction in the number of elderly housed in workhouses, but it did reduce the number of those on outdoor relief by 25 per cent.
38.
Due to rising unemployment, in this second premiership, Rockingham's administration saw the passage of civil parishes, later officially called " unions under Gilbert's Act ", to provide outdoor relief and set up workhouses.
39.
Relief for those too ill or old to work, the so-called'impotent poor', was in the form of a payment or items of food ('the parish loaf') or clothing also known as outdoor relief.
40.
In 1846, of 1.33 million paupers only 199, 000 were maintained in workhouses, of whom 82, 000 were considered to be able-bodied, leaving an estimated 375, 000 of the able-bodied on outdoor relief.
