OLD AGE PENSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19389, 26 July 1926, Page 10

OLD AGE PENSIONS.

NEW LAW IN BRITAIN. AN IMPORTANT EXTENSION. Under a provision -of the - British Widows', OrphansV and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, which came into operation on July 2, a large class of insured persons and "their wives have become entitled to a pension for life without any inquiries about means or nationality. The persons in question, some 100,000 in number, are those who attain the age of 70 before January 2, 1928, who have been insured from April 29, 1925, until the age of 70. Included in the class are also all persons who attained the age of 70 before April 29, 1925, provided they were insured up to the ago of 70. The pension will be at the full rate of 10s a week; in'the case of married couples, both of whom are 70, 20s a week- If the person fulfils the above conditions it is immaterial what his private means or his earnings are;-if he is'in employment he can draw the pension without giving up his employment, however, lucrative that employment may be.Many person? who have hitherto been debarred from receiving a pension under the means test of the Old Age Pensions Act may qualify, while others who have .been in receipt of partial pensions may now draw the full pension. The claimant for pension must have been resident in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for' the two years immediately before the! date on which the pension became payable, and his 'last employment (except temporary, employment) . must have been in Great Britain or Northern Ireland. The wife of an insured person who is qualified, as above, is also - entitled to a pension of 10s a week in right of her husband's insurance if she is at least '.70, or on reaching that age after July 2, but if the .marriage took place after April 29, 1925, a pension will not be payable to the wife in respect of-the husbandis insurance until five years after the marriage, unless she was in receipt of a widow's pension immediately before the marriage. A widow who would hava been entitled to a widow's pension, but for the fact that she was 70 years of age or over, when the husband died, may also claim an old age pension in respect of his insurance. A person who is not entitled to an old age pension by virtue of the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Pensions Contributory Act may, nevertheless, be entitled to a pension under the Old Age Pensions Acts. There is evidence that there are many persons over 70 who have not yet claimed pensions to which they are entitled under the provisions of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1924, which provides that a deduction of £59 in the case of a single person, or £7B in the case of married persons, may be made from means other than earnings in assessing their .means for the purposes of determining a claim to a pension.

The Old Ago Pensions Acts apply equally to the insured and uninsured, to occupied and unoccupied persons, and as an instance of their wide application, it may be pointed out that under these Acts all unoccupied persons whose means do not exceed £BB 17s, 6d in the case of a single person, or £177 15s in the case of married persons, can claim a pension. It is estimated that 58 per cent, of -the men over 70 in the population, and 74J per cent, of the women, are entitled to the old age pension, and that this new proposal will immediately raise these proportions to 69 per cent, and 76 per cent, respectively.