The main help available for poor people were the workhouses run by local councils which provided basic food lodging and in exchange the people had to work for long hours in brutal conditions. Going to workhouses was seen by many as shameful.
There was serious unemplyment in some industries and no unemployment benefits.
Old people with no savings or family suffered badly - no government pensions. Many old people had to go to the workhouses.
Housing in poor areas was damp, cold and didn't have proper sewage systems. This made it easy to become ill, leading to missing work and possibly losing your job.
Many people couldn't afford doctors or medicine.
Many children had to go to work from an early age so were not educated.
Large numbers of people couldn't afford to eat properly. Out of all the men reruited to fight in the Boer War, about half were malnourished.
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