Poor Relief - Law Commission

8. A workhouse was built in 1767 in Shipmeadow, near Beccles under the 1764
Act. This workhouse, constructed for 350 residents, was taken over by the Wangford
Poor Law Union when the latter was established in June 1835. The building, known
as Shipmeadow House, continued to be used as a workhouse until the early 1900s.
In the 1940s the building was used as a school for evacuees and later as a pig farm.
The buildings have now been converted to residential accommodation. 95
9. Both the 1812 and 1833 Acts have long been obsolete. They date back to an
age when relief for the poor, and the money to pay for this, was organised on a
parish basis. As indicated in the accompanying background note, the system of
parish-run poor relief was abolished by the Local Government Act 1929. The poor
law system was itself finally abolished by the National Assistance Act 1948. The
finance for providing the income and other support previously provided by the parish
is today drawn either from funds provided by central government or raised by local
government from local taxation.
10. Accordingly the 1812 and 1833 Acts are obsolete and may now be repealed on
that basis. 96
Extent
11. The provisions proposed for repeal had no effect outside Suffolk.
Consultation
12. HM Treasury, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the
Department for Work and Pensions, Suffolk County Council and the Local
Government Association have been consulted about these repeal proposals.
(32-195-455) LAW/005/018/06
July 2009
95 http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Wangford/Wangford.shtml.
96 A further basis of repeal is the fact that both Acts were amending Acts, and the Act that they
amended, the 1764 Act, was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.
109