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- Petition Parliament..............................From the Mailbox
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CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
On
1st January 2009 we will mark the 100th anniversary of the introduction
of the very first Old Age Pension in the United Kingdom.
Away back in the early 1900s it became widely accepted that tens of thousands of respectable elderly people who were living in penury simply refused to apply to the officials and guardians of the Poor Law because they could not face the loss of personal freedom or the shame of a pauper's grave.
Away back in the early 1900s it became widely accepted that tens of thousands of respectable elderly people who were living in penury simply refused to apply to the officials and guardians of the Poor Law because they could not face the loss of personal freedom or the shame of a pauper's grave.
In
1908 the new Chancellor, David Lloyd George pushed a Bill through
Parliament which introduced as the only practical remedy, a government
financed non-contributory pension. This new state pension would be for
five shillings per week or ten shillings for a married couple. This
would be available to all those over 70 years of age providing that
they were British citizens with at least 20 years residence.This
was means tested but all those with the required age qualification who
earned 8 shillings per week or less qualified for the full 5 shillings
pension.
Young
William Beveridge, who four decades later,as Lord Beveridge, founded our
National Health Service with his 'Beveridge Report',was in favour of
some contribution to this new pension scheme and famously stated
that:
The Liberal Government decided to utilise the vast Post Office system to deliver the new pensions because the widely respected Post Office network had over 23,500 outlets. In the four months prior to their 70th birthday applicants could obtain forms from their local post Office.Postmasters received one shilling for every completed application form and they assisted with the forms.This was a great help because many of the elderly applicants were illiterate. The post Office would also receive a fee for cashing pension orders. (How many Post Offices survive today?)A large number of applicants had no accurate idea of exactly how old they were and as the civil registration of births only started in 1837 the oldest pensioners did not have a birth certificate. All sorts of methods were used to calculate age such as marriage certificates, christening papers, records in family bibles, army discharge papers etc., etc.One 92 year old qualified because she had her son's birth certificate and he was 72. Officials even resorted to the census returns for 1841 and 1851.The great day dawned and although civil servants had predicted that only 572,000 would apply 647,00 actually received their old age pension costing £8.6 million. In those far off Edwardian times the ten shillings was a sufficient income for a couple because many entire families including children had to exist on an income of one pound per week.It is interesting to note that twenty-one shillings was the average income of a working man in 1909.Wouldn't it be great if our 21st. century pension was equal to 50% of the average wage.....
"If they waste more than two pence a week on drink, let them
contribute that!"
The Co-operative Guild and the fledgling Labour
Party advocated better benefits with a lower starting age.Generally
it was accepted that this would release thousands from the Poor Law
system and reach the most needy people. For example women made up 63%
of all pensioners.The Liberal Government decided to utilise the vast Post Office system to deliver the new pensions because the widely respected Post Office network had over 23,500 outlets. In the four months prior to their 70th birthday applicants could obtain forms from their local post Office.Postmasters received one shilling for every completed application form and they assisted with the forms.This was a great help because many of the elderly applicants were illiterate. The post Office would also receive a fee for cashing pension orders. (How many Post Offices survive today?)A large number of applicants had no accurate idea of exactly how old they were and as the civil registration of births only started in 1837 the oldest pensioners did not have a birth certificate. All sorts of methods were used to calculate age such as marriage certificates, christening papers, records in family bibles, army discharge papers etc., etc.One 92 year old qualified because she had her son's birth certificate and he was 72. Officials even resorted to the census returns for 1841 and 1851.The great day dawned and although civil servants had predicted that only 572,000 would apply 647,00 actually received their old age pension costing £8.6 million. In those far off Edwardian times the ten shillings was a sufficient income for a couple because many entire families including children had to exist on an income of one pound per week.It is interesting to note that twenty-one shillings was the average income of a working man in 1909.Wouldn't it be great if our 21st. century pension was equal to 50% of the average wage.....
Nowadays
ladies only receive half of the amount paid to their husbands in pension
credits. so it would seem that we are not even marking time, we are
going backwards as far as pensions are concerned.Perhaps
Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling will celebrate 100 years of our
pension by revamping the whole system and by using some of the surplus
BILLIONS that they have to throw at badly run banks,and give us a decent
pension of £180 each!!
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