By The Old Age Pension was introduced by the British government 100 years ago today.
In 1898, the national pensions committee was formed, holding meetings across the country and organising petitions to government with the demand for a universal pension for all men and women over the age of 65. It took 10 years of campaigning by the likes of leading trade unionist Margaret Bondfield, philanthropist Charles Booth and businessman Edward Cadbury.
David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Liberal government, a staunch opponent of the Poor Law was determined to "lift the shadow of the workhouse from the homes of the poor". The Old Age Pensions Act was passed on 1 August 1908 and payments began on 1 January 1909.
The act provided that all men and women over the age of 70 received between one and five shillings a week, paid at the post office. Married couples received seven shillings and six pence. The act was Means Tested and only paid to people that could meet certain standards of character. Anybody that had been found guilty of a crime or were likely to squander the allowance away was disqualified from receiving the pension.
Many Labour and Liberal politicians of the day welcomed the introduction of the pension but some argued that the level of benefits were far too low and that the pensions should be universal and disliked the Means Test aspect. The Conservatives, with a large House of Lords majority, objected and made it clear that they intended to block the pension. A long struggle with the House of Lords followed before the budget for the act was ratified. This lead to the Liberal Government passing the 1911 Parliament Act that restricted the power of the House of Lords to block legislation passed by the House of Commons.
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