Yes Parish pay was a "payment" from the Guardians often in return for duties - a form of alms or work fare. Poor Law - I'm sure I have another answer / thread here on the wider topic.

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=11120#p11122

Parish pay is usually referred to as "parish relief" or "outdoor relief" and it refers to payments made under the poor law to people supported by the parish but not supported within a workhouse. E.g. a recently widowed woman and her children could be given parish relief in order to keep her from the indignity of the workhouse. Outdoor relief was given widely in many parts of the country before the "reform of the poor law" resulting from the Poor Law Report of 1834. From 1834 parish relief was cut down in favour of incarcerating people in workhouses as the aim was to punish people for their misfortune. The reform of the Poor Law in most parts of England and Wales resulted in a tightening up and regulation which made the scope of the Poor Law more punitive. Outdoor relief was mainly available to those deemed to be "the deserving" rather than the "undeserving poor"!
Payment could be in "cash or kind" the latter being more usual after 1834 i.e. giving people food, etc on which to subsist as opposed to cash to try to buy their own provisions. The 1834 Poor Law Report spoke of the "evils" of providing cash because of the belief that it would be frittered away on drink etc. The whole thrust of the 1834 reforms was to make life very difficult for anyone who was by the Poor Law report's definition "undeserving" and only just tolerable for those defined as "the deserving". Poor Laws existed in Britain from the reign of Queen Elizabeth and were not entirely revoked until the introduction of the welfare state after World War 2.