ABSTRACT
The modern approach to the work that used to be done by the Board and the Poor Law authorities is very different; and the work itself, so far as it concerns the payment of financial assistance, has left the Scottish Office and is handled by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance and the National Assistance Board. But social change also made it clear that the care of the aged and the infirm was quite a separate problem from that of unemployment or the relief of poverty. The National Assistance Act of 1948 gave the county councils and the town councils of large burghs power to promote the welfare of the blind, the deaf or dumb, and other people with a severe physical handicap. The Department, besides encouraging local authorities to develop their own welfare services, tries to help national voluntary organisations interested in the welfare of handicapped people.
