§ MR. RUFUS ISAACS (Reading)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, in calculating the means of an applicant under Section 4, subsection 1, of the Old-Age Pensions Act, 1908, account shall be taken of the fact that the applicant has received money in sick pay during the preceding year; and whether account shall be taken of the fact that in the event of illness the applicant would become entitled to receive sick pay.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) Under Paragraph (a) of Section 4 (1) of the 1758 Old-Age Pensions Act, 1908, it is only in the absence of other means for ascertaining the income which the claimant may reasonably expect to receive during the succeeding year that the income actually received during the preceding year has to be taken into account. Unless there was a reasonable expectation of the receipt of sick pay during the succeeding year, the possibility of sick pay should not, I think, be taken into account.