AGE BENEFICIARIES

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 15, 13 October 1942, Page 4

AGE BENEFICIARIES

Temporary Surrender Of Pensions Advantage has been taken, by a number of social security beneficiaries to surrender temporarily their benefits under recent emergency regulations which give to a beneficiary the right to apply for reinstatement of the benefit when employment ceases. The Minister of Social Security, Mr. Parry, said yesterday that for a single, legally separated, or widowed person the maximum age benefit was at the rate. °t £7B a year exclusive of the cost of living bonus. That benefit was reduced on an income basis if the income exceeded ±;>Z a year. Thus the income and benefit was limited to a rate of £2/10/- a week. Ii or a married couple the limit of income and benefit was £2OB a year, or £4 a week, being £7B a year for each beneficiary and other income of £52. When only the husband or the wife was eligible for a benefit, the limit was still £2OB a year, but here the exempted income was £l3O in addition to the benefit itself of i*oThe Minister said it had been urged in some quarters that the new regulations be extended to, in effect, subsidize the employment of age beneficiaries by way of social security payments. That is a proposal,” Mr. Parry added, “not yet considered by the Government. Already there are indications that the new regulations are helping not only age beneficiaries fit for work and who have work to go to, but employers who have vacancies on their staffs. It is advisable that beneficiaries inform the local office of the Social Security Department immediately they take up work. The notification will help them when the time comes for the reinstatement of their benefits when employment ceases.”