Old-Age Pensions in Great Britain
The Old-Age Pension Law in Great Britain is watched with very much interest. The last estimate of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is that it will cost the vast amount of $37,500,000 a year. Of the 690,000 claims which have been made, over 51,000 have been rejected. Others are still pending. The law provides a pension of $1.20 a week for any man or woman over 70 years of age who is not receiving poor relief and has an income of less than $105 a year. If the applicant's means are less than $157 a year, he may receive a part of this weekly pension of $1.20 according to a sliding scale. The percentage of persons claiming this pension to the whole number over 70 years of age, is in England 54 per cent, in Wales, 56 per cent, in Scotland, 60 per cent, and in Ireland, 128 per cent. The number of applications filed in Ireland, 209,145, is more than half the total for England. One of the reasons why there are so many old people in Ireland is that the younger people have emigrated. There are not a few cases of fraud, but generally throughout England there are records of birth. It is certainly a noble task that the government of England has undertaken, but it will add to the tremendous tax burden.