Social Welfare Act, 1948

Lowering to 21 years of qualifying age for blind pensions and other provisions in relation to blind pensions.

12.—(1) Section 6 (which provides for the payment of pensions to blind persons aged thirty years or upwards) of the Act of 1932 is hereby amended in the following respects:—

(a) the words “person who has attained the age of twenty-one years” shall be substituted for the words “person who has attained the age of thirty years” wherever the latter words occur,

(b) in paragraph (c) the words “ten years” shall be substituted for the words “eighteen years”.

(2) (a) In calculating the income, mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 2 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1911, of a blind person, no account shall be taken of the earnings of that person except, and in so far as, the annual amount of such earnings is calculated to exceed an amount made up as follows:—

(i) if that person is a man, £52, plus £39 if he has a wife, plus £26 for each child,

(ii) if that person is a woman, £52, plus £26 for each child, plus £39 if she has a husband living with her who is prevented by physical or mental infirmity from supporting himself;

(b) In this subsection—

the word “earnings” includes wages, profit from any form of self-employment in a trade or business (including farming), unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance; the word “child” means, in relation to a blind person, any child of that blind person or his wife or her husband who is under the age of sixteen years.

(3) In calculating, for the purposes of the Acts, as amended by this Chapter, the means of a blind person who is being paid an allowance or grant in pursuance of a scheme for promoting the welfare of the blind prepared under section 2 of the Blind Persons Act, 1920, no account shall be taken of such grant or allowance.

(4) Where a person, who was in receipt of a pension under section 6 of the Act of 1932 on the 6th day of January, 1949, raises a question for an increase of pension and notice of the question is received by the pension officer concerned not later than the 1st day of July, 1949, the notice shall, for the purpose of section 6 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1919, be deemed to have been received by the pension officer on the 7th day of January, 1949.