Old-age pensions introduced
- When
- 1 November 1898
- Reach
- Nationwide
One of the first state pensions anywhere — means-tested, character-tested, and closed to Chinese and other Asian residents.
Seddon pushed the Bill through after a marathon session. It paid up to £18 a year to those over 65 who could show they were of good moral character and had not deserted family, and who were not ‘Asiatics’. Restrictive as it was, it established that the state carried responsibility for poverty in old age, and it set the direction that ran through to the Social Security Act of 1938.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
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