§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Social Services whether he will give the general rules regarding entitlement to retirement pension of a person retiring at 65 years of age; whether he is able to continue with the normal occupation and receive wages or attendance allowances; and how this affects his pension entitlement.
§ Mr. RossiA national insurance retirement pension may be payable to a man aged 65 and over and a woman aged 60 and over if they satisfy the necessary contribution conditions and have retired, or can be treated as retired, from regular employment. A person can be treated as retired from regular employment if he or she does not intend to earn more than £52 a week after the deduction of certain expenses in connection with the employment or if he or she intends to work only occasionally or to an inconsiderable extent or in circumstances not inconsistent with retirement. A person who does not intend to work more than 12 hours a week could be accepted as fulfilling this requirement.
As to whether attendance allowances constitute earnings for this purpose depends on the nature of those allowances. Payments which are by way of reasonable reimbursement of expenses to the holder of an unpaid office are not earnings for this purpose.