ABSTRACT
The movement for social reform was immensely stimulated by the work of a new Royal Commission on the Poor Laws which had been appointed by the Conservative Government just before its defeat, and which published voluminous majority and minority reports in 1909. If the State was not to do this new job, the industrial life offices were the only private organisations capable of taking it on; without them, as Lloyd George stated 20 years later, the scheme would have broken down completely. This has been the biggest change of all, and, significantly, the task of assessing the means and determining the needs of pensioners was taken away from the Poor Law and entrusted to the Unemployment Assistance Board, which dropped "Unemployment" from its title to emphasise its new function. It is plainly developing into new omnibus, relief service, nationally controlled and financed, while the Poor Law is equally obviously losing ground and is well on the way to ultimate extinction.
