Gilbert's Act

Statute passed in 1762 in Britain allowing workhouse inmates to find outside work. The Workhouse Act of 1722 empowered parishes or groups of parishes to build workhouses, and by the mid-18th century there were about 2,000 workhouses in England. The inmates were generally confined to the limits of the workhouse. Gilbert's Act replaced the system of parish overseers with a more professional system of elected guardians. It allowed parishes to amalgamate into poor law unions to share costs, and it decreed that the able-bodied poor should be given outdoor relief, indoor relief being provided for those physically unable to work.