<P> In 1905 a Royal Commission was set up to investigate what changes could be made to the Poor Law . The Commission produced two conflicting reports but both investigations were largely ignored by the Liberal government when implementing their own scheme of welfare legislation . The welfare reforms of the Liberal Government made several provisions to provide social services without the stigma of the Poor Law, including Old age pensions and National Insurance, and from that period fewer people were covered by the system . From 1911, the term "Workhouse" was replaced by "Poor Law Institution". Means tests were developed during the inter-war period, not as part of the Poor Law, but as part of the attempt to offer relief that was not affected by the stigma of pauperism . According to Lees by slowly dismantling the system the Poor Law was "to die by attrition and surgical removals of essential organs". </P> <P> During the First World War there is evidence that some workhouses were used as makeshift hospitals for wounded servicemen . Numbers using the Poor Law system increased during the interwar years and between 1921 and 1938 despite the extension of unemployment insurance to virtually all workers except the self - employed . Many of these workers were provided with outdoor relief . One aspect of the Poor Law that continued to cause resentment was that the burden of poor relief was not shared equally by rich and poor areas but, rather, fell most heavily on those areas in which poverty was at its worst . This was a central issue in the Poplar Rates Rebellion led by George Lansbury and others in 1921 . Lansbury had in 1911 written a provocative attack on the workhouse system in a pamphlet entitled "Smash Up the Workhouse!". </P> <P> Poverty in the interwar years (1918--1939) was responsible for several measures which largely killed off the Poor Law system . The Board of Guardians (Default) Act 1926 was passed in response to some Boards of Guardians supporting the Miners during the General Strike . Workhouses were officially abolished by the Local Government Act 1929, and between 1929 and 1930 Poor Law Guardians, the "workhouse test" and the term "pauper" disappeared . The Unemployment Assistance Board was set up in 1934 to deal with those not covered by the earlier 1911 National Insurance Act passed by the Liberals, and by 1937 the able - bodied poor had been absorbed into this scheme . By 1936 only 13% of people were still receiving poor relief in some form of institution . In 1948 the Poor Law system was finally abolished with the introduction of the modern welfare state and the passing of the National Assistance Act . The National Health Service Act 1946 came into force in 1948 and created the modern day National Health Service . </P> <P> Opposition to the Poor Law grew at the beginning of the 19th century . The 1601 system was felt to be too costly and was considered in academic circles as encouraging the underlying problems . Jeremy Bentham argued for a disciplinary, punitive approach to social problems, whilst the writings of Thomas Malthus focused attention on overpopulation, and the growth of illegitimacy . David Ricardo argued that there was an "iron law of wages". The effect of poor relief, in the view of the reformers, was to undermine the position of the "independent labourer". </P>

What key aspect of the welfare state was established in britain in 1948