Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act 1936
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1936 c. 33 |
Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1936
(26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8) CHAPTER 33.
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions.
[14th July 1936]
B E 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:—
Contributory Pensions.
1 Contributory pensions for widows, orphans, and persons between the ages of 65 and 70.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act relating to the payment of contributions (including payments out of moneys provided by Parliament) and otherwise, pensions shall be payable as follows, that is to say—
(a ) to the widow of an insured man a pension at the rate of ten shillings per week, with an additional allowance in respect of children while under the age of fourteen and for the further period herein-after specified, at the rate of five shillings per week for the eldest or only such child, and three shillings per week for each other such child (in this Act called a ‘widow's pension’);
(b ) in respect of the orphan children while under the age of fourteen and for the further period hereinafter specified of an insured man or of an insured widow, a pension at the rate of seven shillings and sixpence per week for each such child (in this Act called an ‘orphan's pension’);
(c ) to an insured man or an insured woman who has attained the age of sixty-five but has not attained the age of seventy, and to the wife of an insured man who has attained the age of sixty-five (such wife having attained the age of sixty-five but not having attained the age of seventy) a pension at the rate of ten shillings per week (in this Act called an ‘old age pension’).
(2) The specified further period shall be any period between the day before the date on which the child attains the age of fourteen and the end of July next following the date on which he attains the age of sixteen during which he is, or is deemed in accordance with regulations made under this Act to be, under full time instruction in a day school.
(3) By way of contribution towards the cost of carrying this Act into effect there shall be paid such contributions as are hereinafter in this Act provided.
2 Meaning of ‘insured’, &c.
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression ‘insured’ means insured under the National Health Insurance Act, 1936 (in this Act referred to as the Insurance Act) or any Act repealed by that Act or by the National Health Insurance Act, 1924 , and in relation to any person who is deemed to be insured for the purposes of this Act, includes such a person; the expression ‘insurance’ in relation to a person so deemed to be insured shall be construed accordingly; and other expressions have the same meaning as in the Insurance Act.
(2) An exempt person and a person engaged in an excepted employment shall be deemed to be insured for the purposes of this Act in the circumstances and to the extent mentioned in this Act.
Widows' and Orphans' Pensions.
3 Widows' pensions.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the widow of a person who is insured at the date of his death but had not attained the age of seventy before the fourth day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-six shall, if the statutory conditions hereinafter mentioned are complied with, be entitled to a widow's pension:
Provided that the widow of a man who had attained the age of sixty at the date of the marriage shall not be entitled to a widow's pension unless either—
(a ) there are or have been one or more children of the marriage; or
(b ) at the date of the death of her husband three years or more have elapsed since the date of the marriage; or
(c ) she immediately before the marriage was, or but for any disqualification for the receipt of a pension contained in section twenty-four or in section twenty-five of this Act would have been, in receipt of a widow's pension.
(2) A widow's pension shall continue to be payable until the widow attains the age of seventy unless she re-marries before attaining that age, in which case the pension shall cease.
(3) An additional allowance shall, subject as herein-after provided, be paid to the widow together with and as part of the pension:
Provided that, if for any reason other than the death of the widow the widow's pension ceases to be payable before the expiration of the time during which an additional allowance is payable, that cesser shall not affect the continuance of the additional allowance.
4 Orphans' pensions.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, an orphan's pension shall, if the statutory conditions herein-after mentioned are complied with, be payable in respect of the orphan child—
(a ) of a man who, being a married man or a widower, is insured at the date of his death and had not attained the age of seventy before the fourth day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-six;
(b ) of a widow who is insured at the date of her death.
(2) Where an additional allowance is payable and the widow who was entitled to the widow's pension as part of which the additional allowance was or had been payable dies, an orphan's pension shall be payable in respect of the child; and where the wife of a man has predeceased him, and, if she had survived him and died immediately after she had become entitled to a widow's pension, an orphan's pension would under the foregoing provision of this subsection have been payable in respect of any child, an orphan's pension shall on the death of the man be payable in respect of that child.
(3) An orphan's pension shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be payable to the guardian or other person having the charge of the child.
5 Statutory conditions as to widows' and orphans' pensions.
(1) The statutory conditions to be complied with in the case of a person in respect of whose insurance a widow's pension or an orphan's pension is payable are—
(a ) that one hundred and four weeks have elapsed and one hundred and four contributions have been paid by or in respect of that person since the date of his entry into insurance; and
(b ) that the number of contributions paid, or deemed in accordance with regulations under this Act to have been paid, by or in respect of him for the three contribution years immediately before his death, or before the date on which contributions under the Insurance Act ceased to be payable by or in respect of him by reason of his age, as the case may be, represents on the average not less than twenty-six contributions calculated in the prescribed manner in respect of each of those three years:
Provided that condition (b ) shall not apply in any case where the person in respect of whose insurance a pension is claimed—
(i) had since the date of his entry into insurance been insured for less than two hundred and eight weeks at the date on which he died or on which contributions under the Insurance Act ceased to be payable by or in respect of him by reason of his age, whichever was the earlier; or
(ii) was at the date on which he attained the age of sixty an insured person and had at that date been continuously insured for a period of ten years, or, if he attained the age of sixty before the fifteenth day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, since the fifteenth day of July, nineteen hundred and twelve; or
(iii) was immediately before the date when he attained the age of seventy, or, if he died before attaining that age, was at the date of his death, entitled to an old age pension under this Act or any Act repealed by this Act; or
(iv) was at the date of his death deemed to be insured by reason of being or having been employed in an employment which is an excepted employment by virtue of a certificate given under paragraph (b ) or paragraph (c ) or paragraph (d ) of Part II of the First Schedule to the Insurance Act.
(2) In determining whether the statutory conditions have been complied with, no account shall be taken of contributions paid after the date of the death of the person in respect of whose insurance the pension is claimed:
Provided that this subsection shall have effect subject to any regulations made under this Act enabling, in such cases as may be prescribed, contributions in respect of employed persons which have not been paid on the due dates to be treated as having been so paid.
6 Payment of widows' and orphans' pensions in certain cases in respect of persons ceasing to be insured.
6. Where a person who immediately before the beginning of a free insurance period had been continuously insured as an employed contributor for a period of not less than two hundred and eight weeks and by or in respect of whom not less than one hundred and sixty contributions had been paid, ceases to be insured at the end of that free insurance period, but it is proved to the satisfaction of the Minister, or in the case of an appeal it is decided in manner provided by this Act, that he was during that period, except when employed within the meaning of the Insurance Act or when incapable of work by reason of some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement of which notice was given within the prescribed period, available for but unable to obtain employment, then, if within twelve months of ceasing to be insured he dies, a widow's pension and an orphan's pension shall, whether he has or has not again become insured, be payable in...
To continue reading
Request your trial