When compensation is received for a child under the Work men's Compensation Act, the additional allowance or orphan's pension under the Act is payable only to the extent that it exceeds the weekly value of the compensation. The widow's pension of o/– a week is unaffected by the receipt of compensation.
Exceptional provision was made for the widows and children of men who, having died before Jan. 4, 1926, the date of the commencement of the Act, could not have participated in the contributory scheme. The rates of widows and orphans pensions are the same as under the contribu tory scheme, but a widow in this class is only entitled to a pen sion if there was a child under the age of 14 at the commence ment of the Act, and she ceases to be entitled six months after her youngest child reaches the age of
The capital value at the commencement of the Act of the total amount which the Exchequer would have to provide for these non-contributory classes was estimated at £42,000,000.
In the restricted provision made for the widow this non-con tributory section of the scheme is closely in line with most of the non-contributory schemes of mothers' pensions which operate in several parts of the British Dominions and in many States of the U.S.A. The widow as widow was not the object of the benefit. The provision was designed entirely in the interests of the children.
In England and Wales the scheme is ad ministered by the Minister of Health and in Scotland by the Scottish Board of Health. Claims for pension are made on forms which are obtainable at all Post Offices. Successful applicants re ceive a notice from the Department for presentation at the Post Office which they nominated on their claim forms and are given in exchange a book containing a series of weekly orders. Bound up in every order book is a form which the pensioner completes shortly before the currency of the book expires, thereby requisi tioning a new book.
None of the Dominions has a contributory scheme of widows' and orphans' pensions, but non-contributory schemes, which provide assistance to needy and worthy mothers for the care of their children in their own homes, have been established in Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan), Aus tralia (New South Wales) and New Zealand.
The Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) was passed on Nov. 6, 1925. In all essential
particulars its provisions are identical with those of the British Act. Reciprocal arrangements between Great Britain and North ern Ireland were at once made, with the result that contributions paid in Great Britain rank as valid contributions in connection with a claim for pension made in Northern Ireland and vice versa.
In several countries provision for the widow and children of a deceased insured person is made under contributory schemes providing invalidity and old age pensions. Pensions for the widow and children are usually based on the invalidity or old age pension to which the deceased was entitled, and the proportion varies considerably in different countries, from 20 to 50% for the widow and from io to 5o% for the children. Pensions to widows and children are paid in Germany (salaried employees'
Austria (salaried employees' scheme), Bel gium and the Netherlands. Children's pensions are payable un der the manual workers' scheme in Germany and under schemes in Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia, but in these cases the provi sion made for the widow is limited : in Germany her pension is deferred until she is 65 unless she is unable to work, in Czecho slovakia she is entitled only if unable to work, and in Jugoslavia her pension ceases three years after her husband's death.
A non-contributory scheme exists in Denmark under which indigent widows have the right to a public contribution towards the support and education of children under
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by the Government Actuary on the Finan cial Provisions of the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Bill (Cmd. 2406, H.M. Stationery Office), contains a detailed explanation of the financial basis, estimates of the future number of beneficiaries and future cost of the scheme in selected years up to 1965-66. General Problems of Social Insurance (Internat. Labour Office, League of Nations) , contains a review of the position of social insurance in general. Social Insurance (the Report of League of Nations Union Conference, Nov. 1925), contains inter alia a report of a discussion on the scheme of the 1925 Act, in which the relative merits of contributory and non-contributory schemes are argued.
For old age pensions and unemployment insurance see OLD AGE