section_path: By country/United Kingdom
section_name: United Kingdom
paragraph_text: United Kingdom
  
  The United Kingdom has a long history of welfare, notably including the English Poor laws which date back to 1536. After various reforms to the program, which involved workhouses, it was eventually abolished and replaced with a modern system by laws such as the National Assistance Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 29).
  
  In more recent times, comparing the Cameron–Clegg coalition 's austerity measures with the Opposition 's, the Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf commented that the "big shift from Labour... is the cuts in welfare benefits." The government's austerity programme, which involves reduction in government policy, has been linked to a rise in food banks. A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2015 found that each one percentage point increase in the rate of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants sanctioned was associated with a 0.09 percentage point rise in food bank use. The austerity programme has faced opposition from disability rights groups for disproportionately affecting disabled people. The "bedroom tax" is an austerity measure that has attracted particular criticism, with activists arguing that two-thirds of council houses affected by the policy are occupied with a person with a disability.