... improving the lives of the impoverished all the more necessary. The current system, managed to provide a relative system of dependence. The Speenhamland System, provided a variable amount of relief according to the size of a labourers family and the fluctuating price of bread, this system merely encouraged and in some cases larger families and consequently more labourers than was necessary to maintain constant levels of employment. The New Poor Law was initially influenced strongly by Benthamite and therefore Utilitarian ideologies, the call for a Royal Commission was eventually needed and begun in 1834. The beginning of such social reform policy initially seems favourable, when the report is considered further it becomes clear that impartiality in compilation and completion has not been adhered to. The commissioners approached t5he task with clearly defined pre-conceptions; that the old law exacerbated the problems that it was designed to alleviate, clear conclusions had already been reached before ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now