Pensioners' Payments and Social Security Act 1979
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1979 c. 48 |
Pensioners' Payments andSocial Security Act 1979
1979 CHAPTER 48
An Act to make provision for lump sum payments to pensioners and to modify section 125 of the Social Security Act 1975.
[26th July 1979]
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
Lump sum payments to pensioners
1 Payments for 1979.
(1) Any person who—
(a ) is present or ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or any other member state of the Communities at any time during the relevant week; and
(b ) is entitled to a payment of a qualifying benefit in respect of a period which includes a day in that week or is to be treated as entitled to a payment of a qualifying benefit in respect of such a period,
shall, subject to subsection (3) of this section and sections 2 and 3 of this Act, be entitled to payment by the Secretary of State of a sum of 10.
(2) Subject as aforesaid, any person entitled to a payment under the preceding subsection shall, if he and his spouse have attained pensionable age not later than the end of the relevant week and his spouse satisfies the condition mentioned in paragraph (a ) of that subsection and if—
(a ) he is entitled in respect of this spouse to an increase in the payment of qualifying benefit mentioned in paragraph (b ) of that subsection; or
(b ) he is to be treated as so entitled and the relevant qualifying benefit is not a supplementary pension; or
(c ) his and his spouse's requirements and resources fall to be aggregated under paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 1 to the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 or to the Supplementary Benefits (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 ,
be entitled to payment by the Secretary of State of a further sum of 10.
(3) Only one sum shall be payable under this section in respect of any person.
(4) A sum payable under this section shall not be treated as benefit for the purposes of any enactment or instrument under which entitlement to the relevant qualifying benefit arises or is to be treated as arising.
(5) A payment and the right to receive a payment—
(a ) under this section; or
(b ) under regulations relating to widows which are, within the period of two months beginning with the date of the passing of this Act, made by the Secretary of State under any enactment relating to police and contain a statement that the regulations provide for payments corresponding to payments under this section,
shall be disregarded for all purposes of income tax and for the purposes of any enactment or instrument under which regard is had to a person's means.
2 Interpretation of provisions as to payments.
(1) In this Act ‘qualifying benefit’ means—
(a ) any of the following benefits under the Social Security Act 1975 or the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975 (each of which is hereafter in this section referred to as ‘the Social Security Act’), namely—
(i) a retirement pension;
(ii) an invalidity pension;
(iii) a widow's allowance, widowed mother's allowance or widow's pension;
(iv) a non-contributory invalidity pension;
(v) an invalid care allowance;
(vi) an industrial death benefit by way of widow's or widower's pension;
(b ) an attendance allowance;
(c ) an unemployability supplement or allowance;
(d ) a war disablement pension;
(e ) a war widow's pension;
(f ) a supplementary pension.
(2) In this Act—
‘attendance allowance’ has the meaning assigned to it by any regulations in force on the passing of this Act under the Family Income Supplements Act 1970 or the Family Income Supplements Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 ;
‘pensionable age’ means—
(a ) in the case of a man, the age of 65;
(b ) in the case of a woman, the age of 60;
‘the relevant week’ means the week beginning with 3rd December 1979;
‘retirement pension’ includes graduated retirement benefit, if paid periodically;
‘supplementary pension’ means a supplementary pension under section 1(1)(a ) of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 or article 3(1)(a ) of the Supplementary Benefits (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 ;
‘unemployability supplement or allowance’ has the meaning assigned to it by Schedule 5 to the Social Security Act;
‘war disablement pension’ means—
(a ) any retired pay, pension or allowance granted in respect of disablement under powers conferred by or under the Air Force (Constitution) Act 1917 , the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act 1939 , the Pensions (Navy, Army, Air Force and Mercantile Marine) Act 1939 , the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 , the Home Guard Act 1951 or the Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 ;
(b ) without prejudice to paragraph (a ) of this definition, any retired pay or pension to which subsection (1) of section 365 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 applies;
‘war widow's pension’ means any widow's pension or allowance granted in respect of a death due to service or war injury and payable by virtue of any enactment mentioned in paragraph (a ) of the preceding definition or a pension or allowance for a widow granted under any scheme mentioned in subsection (2)(e ) of the said section 365;
and each of the following expressions, namely, ‘attendance allowance’, ‘unemployability supplement or allowance’, ‘war disablement pension’ and ‘war widow's pension’, includes any payment which the Secretary of State accepts as being analogous to it.
(3) For the purposes of the preceding section the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar shall be treated as though they were part of the United Kingdom.
(4) A person shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1)(b ) of the preceding section as entitled to a payment of qualifying benefit if he would be so entitled—
(a ) in the case of a qualifying benefit other than a supplementary pension—
(i) but for the fact that he or his spouse is entitled to receive some other payment out of public funds;
(ii) but for the operation of section 30(1) of the Social Security Act;
(iii) but for the terms of...
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