ABSTRACT
The outbreak of war in 1914 brought a dramatic fall in casual ward usage; on 1 January 1914 there were 7,568 in the country's wards, and exactly four years later the figure was down to 1,091. In 1932, in the depths of the Depression, unemployment shot up to nearly 2,800,000, and casual ward use reached its peak on the night of 21 May 1932 with 16,911 relieved. The National Insurance Scheme, introduced in 1911, was extended to a wider range of occupations in 1921, but as the Depression took hold unemployment benefit had to be supplemented by the discretionary dole for the long-term unemployed. The Unemployment Assistance Act of 1934, which was intended to rationalise the outlets for dispensing dole money, introduced compulsory 'training' of the unemployed in camps and had the facilities and atmosphere of prisoner-of-war camps. Although unemployment benefit was claimable only through local Labour Exchanges, the Vacant Ticket, enabled holders to draw benefit at any Labour Exchange.
