Blind Persons Act 1920
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1920 c. 49 |
| Year | 1920 |
Blind Persons Act, 1920,
(10 & 11 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 49.
An Act to promote the Welfare of Blind Persons.
[16th August 1920]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Pensions for blind persons over 50.
1. Every blind person who has attained the age of fifty shall be entitled to receive and to continue to receive such pension as, under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1919, he would be entitled to receive if he had attained the age of seventy, and the provisions of those Acts (including the provisions as to expenses, but excluding the provisions of subsection (2) of section ten of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, relating to the giving of notices by registrars of births and deaths) shall apply in all respects to such persons as if for the first statutory condition there were substituted a condition that the person must have attained the age of fifty, and be so blind as to be unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential, and as if for references to ‘seventy’ and ‘fifty’ there were respectively substituted references to ‘fifty’ and ‘thirty.’
2 Power of local authorities to promote welfare of blind persons.
(1) It shall be the duty of the council of every county and every county borough, whether in combination with any other council or councils or otherwise, to make arrangements to the satisfaction of the Minister of Health for promoting the welfare of blind persons ordinarily resident within their area, and such council may for this purpose provide and maintain or contribute towards the provision and maintenance of workshops, hostels, homes, or other places for the reception of blind persons whether within or without their area and, with the approval of the Minister of Health, do such other things as may appear to them desirable for the purpose aforesaid. The Council shall, within twelve months after the passing of this Act, prepare and submit to the Minister of Health a scheme for the exercise of their powers under this section.
(2) The expenses incurred by a council under this section shall be defrayed in the case of a county council out of the county fund as expenses for general county purposes and in the case of a county borough council out of the borough fund or borough rate.
(3) A council may borrow for the purposes of this section in the case of a county council in accordance with the Local Government Act, 1888 , and in the case of a county borough council, in accordance with the Public Health Acts, 1875 to 1908, but the money so borrowed by the council of a county borough shall be borrowed on the security of the borough fund or borough rate, and money borrowed for the purposes of this section shall not be reckoned as part of the debt of the council for the purposes of any provision limiting the powers of borrowing by the council.
(4) A council may exercise any of the powers conferred by this section (other than the power of raising a rate or of borrowing money) through a committee of the council, and may appoint as members of the committee persons specially qualified by training or...
To continue reading
Request your trial