<P> The settlement movement focused on the causes of poverty through the "three Rs" - Research, Reform, and Residence . They provided a variety of services including educational, legal, and health services . These programs also advocated changes in social policy . Workers in the settlement movement immersed themselves in the culture of those they were helping . There were basic commonalities in the movement . These institutions were more concerned with societal causes for poverty, especially the changes that came with industrialization, rather than personal causes which their predecessors believed were the main reason for poverty . The settlement movement believed that social reform was best pursued and pushed for by private charities . </P> <P> The movement gave rise to many social policy initiatives and innovative ways of working to improve the conditions of the most excluded members of society . Participating universities settled students in slums to live and work alongside the poor local people . Settlement houses focused on education, savings, sports, and arts . The Poor Man's Lawyer service came about because a barrister volunteered his time and encouraged his friends to do the same . In general, the settlement movement, and settlement houses in particular, were "...a foundation for social work practice in this country". </P> <P> One important participant in the scheme was the philanthropist Charles Booth who published his study Life and Labour of the People in London in 1889 while working at Toynbee Hall . The study was the first systematic attempt at gathering comprehensive statistics and mapping poverty and influenced both social research and the fight against poverty for decades afterwards . </P> <P> By the beginning of the 20th century, these different organizations with their diverse intellectual underpinnings were beginning to coalesce into modern social work . Foundations were established to examine the root causes of social problems such as poverty, and social workers became more professional and scientific in their methodology . The Quaker philanthropist and chocolate manufacturer Joseph Rowntree believed that social evils could be tackled by systematic research, and to that end founded the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 1904 . Rowntree wanted to tackle the root causes of social problems, rather than treating their symptoms . His Memorandum of 1904 stated: "I feel that much of the current philanthropic effort is directed to remedying the more superficial manifestations of weakness or evil, while little thought or effort is directed to search out their underlying causes...(seek) to search out the under - lying causes of weakness or evil in the community, rather than...remedying their more superficial manifestations ." </P>

When did social work begin in the uk