Old-age pension

“ The second great function of the Elizabethan Poor Law was the relief of the impotent, and under it practically every poor person had an old age pension. Those who have studied the old parish books will tell you that in most parts of England almost the whole labouring population—young, middle-aged, and old—were upon the rates, and outdoor relief was universal. There is no difference, but in name, between old age pensions and outdoor relief, except that old age pensions are more attractive, because they are on a higher scale and are free from the name of pauperism. ”

“ In the eyes of most people old age is a very remote condition, and those who are not unusually provident are far more attracted by matters of immediate concern. Insurance against sickness is to them a far more vital matter than an old-age pension; and as soon as a man has married and settled down he thinks first of providing for his wife and children. This is so much more the case because the annuities obtained seem to most people too small to compensate for the necessary sacrifices.
The discussion of old-age pensions was, nevertheless, continued on the basis of the government proposal. ”

“ The Old-Age Pensions Act, so far from being in conflict with a scheme of contributory insurance, is really its most helpful and potent ally. The fact that at seventy the State pension is assured to all those who need it, makes a tremendous difference to every form of insurance confined to the years before seventy, whether for old age or for invalidity. ”

“ The cost of the old-age pension system has greatly increased, as might have been expected, for the reason that an increasing number of old persons who previously would have come under the poor-relief system are now receiving old-age pensions. ”

“ The Old Age Pension directly relieves the rates by keeping the pensioner out of the workhouse, or gives his family the opportunity of a fuller life by releasing the money hitherto required for his support. The Insurance Act should eventually abolish all that very large proportion of pauperism which is produced by casual sickness, prevent the deterioration which so often follows the temporary loss of work, and maintain the average level of industrial efficiency at a higher level than before. ”

“ The men had had pensions from the government, but the pensions had died with them, and so the women were in the workhouse.
We shall not in future, I hope, find so many respectable old women in English workhouses. We have an old-age pension law now, which allows old women as well as old men the sum of five shillings—$1.20—a week; hardly enough to live on, but enough to enable the poor to keep their old fathers and mothers out of the workhouse without starving themselves or their children. ”

“ We were told that old age pensions would empty our workhouses and save an enormous expenditure upon Poor Law relief. Mr Charles Booth assured us that it would be possible to do away with out-relief altogether. We were told, moreover, that the grant of a pension at seventy would be a strong incentive to self-maintenance until that age was reached; and now we find our workhouses nearly as full as ever, whilst the places of those transferred from outdoor relief to the pension list are being filled by those under seventy. ”

“ The English old-age pension law is a mere gratuity in the nature of outdoor relief, giving to everybody who has reached a certain age, without reference to any previous service, tramps or drones as well as workmen. ”

“ Therefore is it that the English Old Age Pension Act does not solve its own problem, for the infirm or sick must still be sheltered in some refuge which should have no workhouse taint of pauperism attached to it. ”

“ During the period of disablement, the worker is entitled to benefits ranging from 30 to 100 percent of his wage, depending on the severity of the disablement and on his income. Prolonged or permanent disability entitles the worker to a pension.
Old-age pensions are based on the years of service and kind of work performed. The pensionable age is fifty-five for women and sixty for men, but earlier retirement is possible for certain categories of work. ”

“ Old-age pensions were based on age and years of work. Payments were computed at the rate of 70 percent of the worker's average monthly wage. The minimum pension was 350 leks, and the maximum was 900 leks per month; two exceptions were veterans of the Army of National Liberation who served before May 1944 and Party leaders, who were awarded an additional 10 percent. Women who reared six or more children to the age of eight were permitted to retire at age 50 when they completed fifteen years of work, instead of the usual requirement of twenty years. ”

“ Belgium’s Old Age Pension Act of 1900 is a comprehensive scheme of assisted insurance and non-contributory pensions. It aims, first, to encourage workers to save; and, second, to help the aged by special grants. It has its own superannuation fund bank. Annuities rarely exceed $72 and are payable at 65. The pensions are graded according to the age of the insured, and at last accounts nearly a million, or one-eighth of the population, benefited. ”

“ The Act of the British Parliament, "to Provide for Old Age Pensions" (August 1, 1908) , declares in its first section that "the receipt of an old age pension under this Act shall not deprive the pensioner of any franchise, right, or privilege, or subject him to any disability." The second section defines the "statutory conditions for the receipt of an old age pension by any person" to be: the person must have attained the age of seventy; must satisfy the pension authorities that he has been a British subject and resident in the United Kingdom for at least twenty years ”

“ The Commonwealth legislation thus made provision for the aged poor in the three states which up to 1908 had not accepted the principle of old age pensions, and also for those who, owing to their having resided in more than one state, were debarred from receiving pension in any. ”

“ It seems reasonable that the portion of an instalment accrued up to the date of the pensioner's death should be paid to the person who has defrayed the expenses of burial. It seems desirable also that near relatives from whom a pensioner may legally claim maintenance should not be relieved by the Old-age Pensions Act of such responsibility. I recommend also that the Colonial Treasurer should be empowered to pay an instalment of pension which has been forfeited through non-delivery of the pension certificate or other cause, not being the fault or neglect of the pensioner. ”

“ An attempted distinction as to pension measures for employees retired by reason of age, because old age is not in itself a consequency of employment, is but superficial. The common judgment takes note of the fact that the retirement of workers by reason of incapacity due to advancing years is an incident of employment and that a fair consideration of their plight justifies retirement allowances as a feature of the service to which they have long been devoted. ”

“ To Councillor Glyde the pensionable age of sixty seems to be too high, and the pension too low. Therefore he proposes that "Old-age pensions of at least 7s. 6d. per week should be provided for all aged workers over fifty-five years of age." [367] But why should a working man have to wait till he is fifty-five before receiving a pension? In another pamphlet, Mr. Glyde amends his scheme and tells us, "To give a pension of 7s. 6d. per week to all who wished to give up work at fifty years of age would have very satisfactory results. ”

“ For old age merely, he cannot begin to draw his full pension until he has attained the ripe age of seventy-one years. Then he will draw the full amount. He may anticipate that if he be incapacitated; but in that case the pension will be on a lower scale, proportioned to the amounts paid in and the length of time of the payments. ”

“ We on Mars are wondering why your government has created what you call the Federal Old Age and Survivors Insurance, through your Social Security Boards, for your old people; and then provide them with such a small pension. Not only are the old people neglected, it seems to us, but money which could help them is lavishly spent on sumptuous Social Security Board offices staffed by young, and high salaried officials. ”

“ When a pensioner begins to draw his pension at forty-five years of age, it will be less than if they did not draw it till they were fifty-five or sixty years of age, for the amount of shares will have to be divided so that they will last at least until the member is seventy-five years old. ”

“ Government pensions for both husband and wife are paid when they have reached the age of 60 years, and when their income does not exceed $250 a year. The pension paid is $2.40 a week each, $4.80 for the old couple. Citizens who are incapacitated, and have not reached the age of 60 years, are also paid the $2.40 a week. Young persons deformed or mentally incompetent also receive the pension, or, rather, their guardians do. In cases where a man dies and leaves a widow and children without means of support the government looks after them. ”

“ In our time it has been a government affair, with all the possibilities of abuse that there are in a huge pension system, and surely no country knows it better than we do here in America. The old countries, Germany and France, have established a contributing {439} system of pension. This was the model of their system of caring for the old and the disabled in the Middle Ages. Toulmin Smith cites a rule of one of the gilds which gives us exactly the status of the old age disability pension question. ”

“ But I accept the fact that under present conditions, which it may be that a progressive policy in time will alter, a sufficient case for State aid in the matter of old age pensions has been made out, and I believe that no party is going to oppose the introduction of old age pensions. ”

“ Smart thinks "The smallest sum upon which an old man can exist, even when his lodging is provided by his friends, is 7s. a week. The pension, therefore, should not be less than this amount, and should be obtainable at sixty years of age. ”

“ Old age pensions—one of the most startling novelties of the collectivist—are doubtless economically impossible and morally pernicious unless required to be contributory on the part of those who may later claim them, so that they constitute a system of compulsory saving and insurance, as is the plan in Germany where socialism is at least somewhat scientific. ”

“ The provision of old age pensions is another pleasing scheme. In the first place it will diminish the need of foresight and of self-restraint; it will thus weaken character by removing the great driving force of self-interest. ”

“ As a measure of comparative magnitude of millions it is well to point out that the total cost of Old Age Pensions for the past financial year was £21,750,000, and the total cost of Poor Law in the year ending March 31, 1920, was £28,500,000. ”

“ Chamberlain and the other more considerable advocates of old-age pensions clearly see that if such pensions are to be of real value they must discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving; and they believe that they may have the effect of stimulating, [310] instead of weakening, thrift. For this purpose several schemes have been devised.
The most popular Continental method of achieving this end is by a law obliging the working man in early life to insure against old age, and by supplementing the income derived from this insurance by a State subsidy. ”

“ We will continue to raise the basic old-age pensions for enterprise retirees by an annual average of about 10% per person for the next two years. We will continue to increase unemployment insurance benefits and workers' compensation. ”

“ The fixing of any age is unscientific; some are "too old at forty," others capable of good work long after they are sixty or even sixty-five. The opponents of old age pensions believe that they would act in supplementation of wages, and so indefinitely postpone the true solution of the problem of provision for old age, and that they would be detrimental to thrift, because they would impose upon the thrifty the burden of the maintenance of the unthrifty. ”

“ Mr Booth also paid much attention to a kindred subject—the lot of the aged poor. In 1894 he published a volume of statistics on the subject, and, in 1891 and 1899, works on Old-age pensions, his scheme for the latter depending on a general provision of pensions of five shillings a week to all aged persons, irrespective of the cost to the state. ”

“ The cost of maintaining these iniquitous blots on twentieth century legislation would go a long way to providing old age pensions, and starting reproductive works for the able-bodied men and women to earn their livelihood. When men and women are old they are entitled to old age pensions, which really are the interest of the wealth their own labour has produced. With charity or relief, indoor or outdoor, recipients are paupers, and consequently forfeit all privileges of citizens; with old age pensions go respect, honour and rights of citizenship. ”

“ Old Age Pensions.—The Old Age Pensions law, enacted in 1898, provided for the free grant of pensions, not exceeding £18 a year, to persons of sixty-five years and upwards who had lived for twenty five years in the colony. Pensioners must be British subjects, poor, and not ex-criminals or of notoriously bad character. ”

“ The Old Age Pensions Act removed from the shoulders of working-class families what was to many an intolerable burden. Before the Act came into force some thousands of men and women, from no cause but the lapse of time, became incapable of supporting themselves. ”