Absolute Poverty In The Late 19th Century

In the late 19th century the government reaction was one of Laissez Faire to poverty. Minimal intervention through the workhouse (expanded after the Poor Law Amendment act of 1834) where eligibility criteria was enclosed to try to scale down the worst excesses of poverty and squalor. People arrived at the realisation that poverty was due to social and economic factors outside the person's control. Poverty had more or less vanished from the political radar in the early 1950s. However, came back into focus again at the end of the decade. The phase Butskellism was used to describe the political consensus formed in the 1950s. Based on the perceived understanding of leading politicians of the Conservative and Labor parties on the role of mixed economy and the welfare state.
Absolute poverty is when people have insufficient income to afford the essentials of life, such as food, rent and clothing. (Blackmore
Carers Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Income Support, Housing benefit etc. This benefit cap is to make sure that households getting benefits will not get more normally than the working household. Universal Credit is a means tested benefit for working and non-working people. Universal credit will replace Income support, income based job seekers, income related employment support, housing benefit, working tax credit, and child tax credit. Disability living Allowance is changing to Personal Independent Payment (PIP), the abolition of council tax benefit, and the 1% capping of rising to benefits and tax credits for three years. Duffy, (2014) suggested that “the Coalition’s VAT increase and benefit cuts have hit the poorest section of society the hardest.” (DWP 2015) “The department of works and pensions found that 41% of children in lone-parent families live in relative