old-age pension

Regular payment made by the state or a private institution to persons who have reached a specified age and are eligible for such assistance. As part of German chancellor Bismarck's ‘state socialism’ of the 1880s, the Old-Age and Invalidity Insurance Law of 1889 provided pensions, with the costs divided between employers, employees, and the state. In 1908 the British Parliament passed the Old Age Pensions Act which provided a weekly pension of five shillings to people over 70 years of age (7s 6d for a married couple) with an income of less than ten shillings a week. Old-age pensions are a form of social security.