SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 84, 6 October 1938, Page 8

SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Will you through the medium of your paper explain to me a few points in the Social Security Act:—(l) Will present old age pensioners receive any increase in their pensions in 1940, or any future date? (2) Who are the people who will start off in 1940 with £10 per annum, with yearly increases of £2 10s until the year 1968. when the full amount will be reached? I don't think very many will see that day. ■'?'. (3). : Will I, a man 40 years of age at present, be" entitled to the full pension of £78 upon reaching the age of 60, or will I be paying ls in the £ of income for twenty years, and still only be entitled to the present old age pension, plus medical benefits in the meantime? I have studied the booklet issued by the Labour Party and have gained the impression that no one will receive the full pension until ■ the year 1968. Please correct me if lam wrong. —I am, etc., PERPLEXED. f(l) The. Act provides that persons aged 60 and qualified by residence and otherwise shall receive a pension of £1 10s per week from April 1, 1939, reducible if their earnings or other income exceeds £1 a week (for single person or married couple) or accumulated capital exceeds a fixed sum; (2) persons 65 years of age complying with residential and other qualifications, but with no means test; (3) this depends upon the applicant's position regarding the means test. A person not barred by the means test, otherwise eligible, is entitled to a full pension at 60; one barred by the means test would receive the "universal superannuation" at 65—£10 a year in 1940, increased by £2 10s every year thereafter.—Ed.] '."■■'■