Old Age Pensions

The Act of 1919.

The Old Age Pension Act, 1919, was passed to give effect to such of the recommendations of the committee as were adopted by the Government. The abolition of the means test did not find a place in the act. Apart from the important modifications made by the act of 1924 (see below) the conditions attaching to old age pensions at 70, where title does not arise by virtue of the Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, have remained unchanged up to 1928. These conditions are that the applicant has (I) reached the age of 7o; (2) been a British subject for the last io years; (3) been resident in the United Kingdom for a period, in the case of natural-born British subjects, of at least 12 years since attaining the age of 5o and, in the case of naturalised British subjects, of 20 years in the aggregate; (4) the yearly means I In calculating the means from investments, etc., the first £25 of the value of the investments, etc., is allowed free, the means from the next £375 are calculated at 5%, and from the balance (if any) at i 0%.

A person is disqualified for receiving a pension (a) while he is an inmate of a poor law institution, unless he has become an inmate for the purpose of obtaining medical or surgical treatment, when there is no disqualification up to a maximum period of three months from date of admission so long as treatment continues; (b) while he is serving a sentence of imprisonment without the option of a fine or of penal servitude; (c) while he is detained in an asylum within the meaning of the Lunacy Acts or is being maintained in any place as a pauper or criminal lunatic.

The Act of 1924.

A short act passed by the Labour Govern ment in 1924 made an important modification in the means test and was directed to meet certain of the criticisms which had led the Ryland Adkins committee to recommend universal old age pen sions. This act provided that from the means of a claimant as calculated under the earlier acts a deduction should be made up to a maximum of £39 of such part as was not derived from earn ings. As a result of this act a claimant's means may amount to £65.5.0. without his suffering any reduction of pension provided his earnings do not exceed £26.5.o. while the minimum pension of IF- a week may be drawn by a person whose means do not exceed if not more than £49.17.6. comes from earnings.

The Blind Persons Act, 1920, provided pensions at the age of 5o for persons who are so blind as to be unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential on the same terms and condi tions, apart from age, as are applicable to old age pensions.

for old age pensions under the Acts of 1908 to 1924 are decided by local pensions committees ap pointed for every county and for every borough and urban dis trict. Every claim is investigated by the pension officer, an official of the Customs and Excise department who recommends to the local committee that the claim be admitted or rejected. An ag grieved claimant has a right of appeal to the minister of health.

The pension is paid weekly at the post office selected by the pensioner.

Statistics.—On March 31, 1911, the number of pensioners was 705,678. Three years later this number had grown to 781,929. the war years the number of pensioners declined slightly as a consequence of the scarcity of civilian labour and the high rates of wages current, but by March 31, 1920, there were 785,833 pensioners. From this year onwards the number increased with regularity, and by March 31, 1924, it had grown to 916,771. As a consequence of the Act -.)f 1924 the increases in the following years were abnormal and by March 31, 1926, the number of pensioners had become 1,071,093. On March 31, 1928, the number of pen sions under the Acts of 1908-1924 had fallen to 995,978 (of which 972,621 were at the rate of io/– a week). The reasons for this decline were the new qualifications embodied in the act of 1925.

The insistent demand for the lowering of the pensionable age, the rapidly mounting cost of old age pensions, and the agitation for the removal of the means test combined to direct attention to the principle of contributory insurance and as a result the Con servative Government in the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925 (see NATIONAL INSURANCE: Widows' and Orphans' Pensions), adopted that method.

Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925.—The persons within the scope of the old age pen sions scheme embodied in the act are those who are insured, whether as employed or as voluntary contributors under the national health insurance scheme. (See NATIONAL INSURANCE: Health.) In addition a certain number of persons whose employ ment is excepted from health insurance are compulsorily insured for old age pensions, although the majority of persons in "ex cepted employment" are excepted from insurance for old age pensions. Persons who cease to be compulsorily insurable have the option of continuing to be insured as voluntary contributors provided certain conditions are satisfied.