DISTRESS, RELIEF OF. Public relief of the destitute in Great Britain is dealt with in the article POOR LAW ; here we are concerned only with aspects arising out of unemployment. For relief of unemployment in the U.S.A., see RELIEF : Federal Relief.
The first serious attempt to treat this problem as separate from Poor Law procedure was made by the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, which removed these men from the pauper class. Under it were established distress committees of the councils of boroughs and urban districts with a population of not less than 5o,000 (with certain special arrangements in the case of London), and central committees in the counties. The members of the distress commit tees were drawn from the councils, the boards of guardians, and co-opted persons (one at least of whom had to be a woman), and the central bodies comprised representatives of the committees and of the county councils, with co-opted members and persons nom inated by the Local Government Board (after 1919 the Ministry of Health) ; their expenses were met by a fund supplied by voluntary contributions and by moneys raised from the rates, the latter being limited to a rate of id. in the or, with the sanction of the min ister, cl., rate aid being confined to establishment charges, the cost of emigration or removal and the acquisition of land.
It was the duty of the distress committees to make themselves acquainted with the conditions of labour in their area and, if so required by the central body, to receive, inquire into, and dis criminate between applications from unemployed persons; in suit able cases they might endeavour to find work for an applicant, but they could not themselves provide or contribute towards the provi sion of work for such. The central bodies superintended and, as far as possible, co-ordinated the action and aided the efforts of the distress committees, and could provide temporary work with the object of fitting the recipient for work of a regular character.
For many reasons—e.g., the failure of the alliance between vol untary charity and rate aid, the burdening of the distressed area itself with the cost of its unemployed, and the unwieldy method of appointing the committees—the Act was never a success; its re peal was advised in 19o9 by the Royal Commission on the Poor Law, and many times subsequently; in 1910 an important part of the work of the committees was transferred to the newly formed Labour Exchanges; and in 1929 the Act was finally repealed by the Local Government Act.
The Local Government Act, inter alia, abolished the boards of guardians and transferred their functions, with most of those of the Poor Law authorities, to the county and borough councils, which were empowered to set up "Public Assistance Committees" charged with the carrying out of these duties, and local sub-com mittees known as Guardian's Committees. The former are made up of councillors or aldermen and co-opted members; the latter of nominees of the district council, members of the county council for the area divisions, and co-opted members. In both cases co opted members may not number more than one third of the total membership and must include some women; among them are usually ex-members of the former Poor Law authorities and fre quently members of such bodies as the Voluntary Hospitals Asso ciation and the Personal Service League. There is no statutory limit to the numbers serving on the public assistance committees, but the guardian's committees may not comprise less than I2 nor more than 36 members.
The public assistance committee administers the Poor Law in the area over which it has control and is responsible for the super vision and management and all the various Poor Law Institutions as well as for general relief. It may delegate certain of its func tions to other committees but its work in connection with the relief of distress is done through its own guardians' committee and other committees (as "Welfare", "Outdoor Relief", etc.) appointed for special purposes.
Pt. II of the Poor Law Act, 193o, gave the public assistance committees further powers, especially in the matter of the recov ery of the cost relief ; and in 193 i the Unemployment Insurance (National Economy) (No 2) Order laid upon them the duty of investigating applications for relief from unemployed persons of 18 years or over claiming, under the Unemployment Act, 1927, that they are in need of assistance by way of transitional payments (the "needs test"). Relief, when awarded must not exceed the amount the applicant would obtain through insurance, and must be given in cash, not in kind. By 1933, when unemployment in Great Britain had passed its height, the Ministry of Health ad mitted that the relief of distress among the able-bodied unem ployed was a State responsibility, and in 1934 a further Unemploy ment Act was passed upon this principle.