Liberal Reforms 1906-1914Reforms to help the elderly

Old Age Pension Act 1908

The successes of this were:

• people over 70 with an annual income of £21-£31 would receive a pension (1 to 5 shillings per week)
• by 1914, one million people were receiving a pension

The limitations of this were:

• many pensioners had no birth certificate to prove their age and died from hardship before they reached 70
• pensions were only provided if people were British and had lived in the UK for 20 years
• pensioners were also only provided if people had not been imprisoned in the last ten years