Page tools

Widow B Pension from 1942, Widow D Pension from 1947 to 1960

Milestones	Details
1942 June Widow B Pension introduced	As part of a scheme of widows' pensions, Widow B Pension (WidB) paid to widows who were aged 50 years over and were without dependent children. Included de facto widows who had been living with deceased partner for at least three years prior to his death and had been maintained by him. Eligibility also given to deserted wives who had been deserted for at least six months, divorced women who had not remarried and women whose husbands were in hospitals for the insane. Widow A Pension (WidA) (included in publication on payments to those with children) paid to those with a dependent child under 16, while Widow C Pension (WidC) paid to widows under 50 with no children for a period of 26 weeks. Claimants required to be resident in Australia and have resided in Australia continuously for five years immediately prior to application. Aliens and indigenous people of Australia, Africa, the Pacific and New Zealand ineligible. Exclusion did not apply to Aboriginal people who were exempt from state laws 'relating to the control of Aboriginal natives' or who lived in a state where such exemptions did not exist and who were eligible on grounds of 'character, intelligence and development'. Means test applied to WidB. Possession of property above £50 in value resulted in reduction of annual rate of pension by £1 for every £10 in excess of £50. Widows with property valued above £400 ineligible for WidB. Homes, furniture and personal effects excluded from property value calculation. Pension also reduced by an amount equivalent to any income in excess of £32.10s per annum. WidB paid four-weekly in arrears and rate subject to quarterly adjustment according to movements in Retail Price Index.
1942 July	WidB exempted from income tax.
1944 April	Quarterly rates adjustment abolished.
1947 July Widow D Pension introduced	WidB paid fortnightly. Women whose husbands were imprisoned for six or more months and had a dependent child or were over 50 years of age eligible for a Widow D Pension (WidD) which was paid under the same conditions as WidB. New War Widow's Pension recipients ineligible for WidB. Those already receiving both pensions subject to transitional arrangements.
1950 August	Pensioner Medical Service providing free general practitioner services and medicines introduced.
1952 September	Residency requirement reduced to one year where the couple living permanently in Australia at time of husband’s death.
1956 October	WidB payable to widows who were at least 45 years of age and had lost eligibility for a WidA because youngest child no longer under 16 years of age.
1958 October Supplementary Assistance payable	Supplementary Assistance of 10 shillings per week available to widows paying rent.
1960 February WidD abolished	WidD abolished and recipients aged 50 years and over became eligible for WidB. Most restrictions on eligibility of Aboriginal people removed.
1964 October	Pensioner telephone rental concessions, reducing annual rental costs by one-third, introduced.
1966 September	Remaining provisions preventing nomadic Aboriginals receiving a pension repealed. Aliens eligible for pensions.
1968 September	Residency requirement for WidB eligibility removed where widow and her partner had been permanent residents at time of husband’s death. Vocational training scheme for WidB pensioners introduced.
1969 September	Women widowed outside Australia eligible for pension on returning to Australia if had lived in Australia for 10 years continuously at any time.
1971 April	Pension rates increased. Full increase restricted to full-rate pensioners. Those receiving a pension within 50 cents of full rate received half the increase and all others received no increase.
1971 October	Pension rates increased on same basis as those in April, except that in addition half the increase went to those receiving pensions within $1.00 of full rate.
1972 April	Pension rates increased. Those who had not received full increases in 1971 given additional increases to bring them into line with those who had.
1973 July	WidB paid to women of age pension age taxable.
1974 October	Vocational training scheme for widows incorporated into National Employment and Training system.
1975 July	Pensioner Medical Service superseded by eligibility for a range of medical services under Medibank.
1975 October	Widows in de facto relationships ineligible for WidB.
1976 July	WidB subject to income tax.
1976 November	Automatic six-monthly rate increases in May and November, in line with movements in CPI, introduced for basic pension rate.
1978 November	Automatic rate increases made annually in November.
1980 May	Automatic rate increases once again made every six-months in May and November.
1986 December	Rate increases occurred in December and June rather than May and November as had previously been the case.
1987 January WidB phased out	WidB to be largely phased out over following 15 years. New WidB grants restricted to: those receiving WidB immediately before 1 July 1987 those who turned 45 years of age by 1 July 1987, and who received or subsequently received Special Benefit (SpB) or WidA and those aged 50 years and over at 1 July 1987 and who were or subsequently became widows. Dual eligibility for pensions and Commonwealth education payments ceased. Pensioners studying full-time eligible for an educational supplement of $15 per week.
1987 November	Earnings credit system introduced. Pensioners could save unused portions of income test free area to a limit of $1000. When income exceeded free area credit reduced until depleted. Normal income test then applied again.
1988 January	Fringe benefit (concession card) entitlement could be retained for three months after income exceeded income test limit by no more than 25 per cent.
1989 November	Indexation timing for WidB brought forward in several stages to March and September, with process was completed in September 1990.
1991 January	WidB recipients required to provide tax file number.
1992 January	Austudy supplement of $60 pf for pensioners studying full-time extended to those studying part-time.
1992 July	Telephone allowance of $51.80 per household per year replaced telephone rental voucher scheme.
1993 January	Education entry payment of $200 introduced for WidB recipients eligible for education supplement.
1993 April	Eligibility for fringe benefits (concession cards) extended to all part-rate pensioners.
1996 July	WidB recipients able to receive advance payment of allowance, from $250 to $1000, in certain situations. Allowance then reduced over subsequent six to 12 months to for repayment of advance payment.
1997 January WidB closed	No new WidB grants after 20 March. WidB recipients automatically transferred to Age Pension on reaching age pension age provided they and their partners were Australian residents at time WidB recipient widowed. Advance payments restricted to amounts up to $500 and limited to one each 12 months.
1997 September	Rate of pension to be maintained at greater than or equal to 25 per cent of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE). If regular CPI indexation results in a lower rate, pension increased to this benchmark.
2000 July GST compensation	Pension rate increased as part of a package of measures to compensate for impact of GST introduction. A pension supplement equivalent to four per cent of maximum rate at July 2000 paid to all pensioners. Indexation provisions adjusted so that half of four per cent increase was an advance on whatever rate increase occurred in March 2001. Increased rate provided as a supplement so that it would not be included when pension rate was adjusted in line with benchmark of 25 per cent of MTAWE. This ensured that maximum rate of pension plus supplement would always be more than 25 per cent of MTAWE.
2007 August Income management	Allowances could be subject to income management in Northern Territory and Cape York. Income management involved diversion of 50 per cent of a recipient’s income support into an account that could only be drawn on to pay for priority needs, such as food, clothes and rent.
2008 December	Recipients received economic security strategy payments of $1400—part of the Economic Security Strategy to boost the economy after the GFC.
2009 July	Definition of ‘member of a couple’ changed to include same-sex couples.
2009 September Secure and sustainable pension reform	Maximum rate increased by $30 per week. Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index used to adjust pension rates in September and March each year, when it produces a larger increase than CPI or MTAWE.
2010 March	The 25 per cent of MTAWE benchmark used to ensure pension rates kept pace with earnings growth adjusted to take account of September 2009 increase in pension rate. That increase had pushed rate well above existing benchmark. A new benchmark was set for combined Age Pension couple rate at 41.67 per cent of MTAWE. Single rate benchmarked at 66.33 per cent of couple rate (effectively 27.7 per cent of MTAWE).
2010 April	Disadvantaged income support recipients able to receive payments weekly rather than fortnightly.
2012 June	Clean Energy Advance paid to compensate pensioners for expected impact of Carbon Tax.

For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.

In essence, you are free to copy and communicate this work in its current form for all non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to the author and abide by the other licence terms. The work cannot be adapted or modified in any way. Content from this publication should be attributed in the following way: Author(s), Title of publication, Series Name and No, Publisher, Date.

To the extent that copyright subsists in third party quotes it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the publication are welcome to webmanager@aph.gov.au.

This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.

Feedback is welcome and may be provided to: web.library@aph.gov.au. Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library‘s Central Entry Point for referral.