In 1834 the British system for giving relief to the poor was amended. The proposal stated that outdoor relief would no longer be provided for the able bodied. The law would see an expansion of the workhouse system for those unable to help themselves. The workhouses themselves would also be made so unattractive-"less eligible", that the poor would rather help themselves than enter a workhouse. Plus each category of poor-for example female, male, would be given their own individual workhouse. In a time where the working classes were suffering from poor working and living conditions, unemployment, poverty, and the after effects of the Napoleonic war, life just got tougher for the poor.
Those poorer elements in society found the terms even more difficult to contemplate than before. No attempt was made by the commissioners to tackle the causes of the poor economic situation as it was assumed by them that the system would deter rather than encourage those to fall back on state relief. .
The abolition of outdoor relief caused much hardship and distress throughout the country, especially in those industrial areas affected greatly by unemployment. Had it not been for a series of productive harvests and the beginning of the Railway Age, which tended to create jobs, then the whole situation would have been significantly worse. .
For those able bodied, who simply could not find work, life was hugely unfair having to go into the workhouse. Husbands and wives, parents and children were split up, obviously causing terrible emotional effects. Once someone was in the workhouse, there was little way of ever getting out. They had nothing to look forward to in life. The principle of "less eligibility" also proved difficult to force as working conditions were as bad. The conditions were far better than those of slums, but the strict diet and regulations set up for the inmates was hard to bear, this is described in an extract of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist,.