I just today finished reading The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper and it was really interesting. There are a million books out there about who Jack is or isn't, and why he did it etc (and I've read most of them) but none of them go into detail about who these women really were until this one.
Not exactly what you're asking for because it's a book and the setting is earlier, but as far as the workhouses go, there's a book called The Five which explores the lives of the victims of Jack the Ripper. They were in and out of workhouses. It's based on records, etc. Many of them had problems with illness or bereavement or loss of income which put them in the workhouses. Here's the Amazon link if you want more detail:
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Untold-Lives-Killed-Ripper/dp/1328663817