OLD AGE PENSIONS ġ S.L.318.01 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 318.01
OLD AGE PENSIONS REGULATIONS
2nd August, 1948
GOVERNMENT NOTICE 443 of 1948, as amended by Emergency
Ordinance VI of 1958, Ordinance XXV of 1962, and Act XLIV of 1965.
Title.
Regulations.
Interpretation.
Cap. 318.
"claim" means a claim to a pension;
"claimant" means a person by whom or on whose behalf a claim
has been made;
"pension" means an old age pension under the Act;
"pensioner" means a person in receipt of a pension.
Notice to be in 
writing.
3. (1) Any notice or other intimation requires or authorised to
be sent for the purposes of these regulations shall be in writing.
(2) Any notice or other intimation and any document  required
or authorised to be sent to any person for the purposes of these
regulations shall be deemed to have been duly sent if transmisted
by post, addressed to that person at his last known ordinary
address.
Forms.
Amended by:
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962.
4. For the purpose of the Act and of these regulations, such
forms shall be used as the Minister may from time to time direct.
Making of claims.
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962;
Act XLIV of 1965.
5. (1) Every person who desires to make a claim must fill in
and sign a form of claim and deliver or send it to the Director of
Social Services or to such other officer as may be designated by the
Minister for the purpose. Where a claim is not duly completed and
signed when so received it shall none the less be treated as a valid
claim, if it is returned duly completed and signed within one month
of the date on which it was returned to the claimant for completion.
(2) An illiterate person or a person who through physical
causes is unable to write shall cause the form of claim to be filled
in, and he shall then mark the form of claim so filled in, or, if
physically unable to do so, shall cause it to be marked on his
behalf.
(3) The Minister shall furnish to every Police station and
office of the Ministry printed forms of claim, and every officer in
charge of such station or office shall, on application being made to
him for the purpose, supply a form of claim  gratis  to any person
who desires to make a claim.
(4) Every such officer shall, if any person who desires to make
a claim request him so to do, give to that person such information
2 ġ S.L.318.01 OLD AGE PENSIONS
and such assistance in filling in the form of claim as is in his power
to give and as may be necessary to enable that person to fill in the
form properly.
Investigation and 
determination of 
claims.
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962;
Act XLIV of 1965.
6. (1) The Director of Social Services shall keep a register of
all claims referred to him, and forthwith on receiving any claim
shall, subject to these regulations, cause the claim to be registered.
He shall cause each claim to be numbered in such manner as may
be directed by the Minister from time to time.
(2) The Director of Social Services shall also keep proper
records of every decision on or in reference to any claim entered in
his register, or on or in reference to any question raised in
connection with any pension allowed on any such claim, or on or in
reference to any application made for the revocation or alteration of
the provisional allowance of a claim.
Investigation.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
7. As soon as may be after receiving any claim, the Director
of Social Services shall take all necessary steps for investigating
and ascertaining whether the claimant in entitled to a pension, and,
if so, at what rate:
Provided that -
( a ) where a claim made by the claimant within the
previous six months has been disallowed and the
claimant does not show  prima facie  to the satisfaction
of the Director of Social Services that the grounds for
that disallowance are no longer tenable; or
( b ) where a claim on the face of it discloses that the
claimant does not fulfill the statutory conditions,
the Director of Social Services shall not be bound to investigate the
claim.
Determination of 
age.
8. For the purposes of determining the age of any person,
regard may be had to any of the following, namely:
certificate of birth;
certificate of baptism;
any other evidence which appears sufficient for the
purpose.
Decision.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
9. (1) The Director of Social Services shall give his decision
on each claim as soon as may be, and on having done so shall
forthwith send notice thereof to the claimant.
(2) In each case of disallowance of a claim, the notice of the
decision to be sent to the claimant shall state the grounds of the
disallowance.
Allowance of 
claim.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
10. In each case of allowance of a claim, the Director of Social
Services shall establish the weekly rate of pension to which the
claimant is entitled and shall specify that rate in the notice of his
decision.
Making of claim 
for future date.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
11. (1) If it appears to any person that although for the time
being he is not entitled to any pension he will nevertheless become
entitled to a pension at some future date, he may make a claim at
any tine not longer than three months before that future date.
OLD AGE PENSIONS ġ S.L.318.01 3
(2) If the Director of Social Services is satisfied that the
claimant is likely to be entitled to a pension at any time within
three months of the date on which the claim has been received by
the Director of Social Services, he may allow the claim
provisionally so that it will take effect on a stated future date not
later than three months from the date of the receipt of the claim by
the Director of Social Services.
Provisions as to 
questions and 
applications.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
12. (1) If a person desires to raise any question as to the
fulfillment or the continued fulfillment of the statutory conditions,
or as to the disqualification of a pensioner, or as to the rate or a
pension, or as to the receipt at any time by a person of a pension
when that person was not entitled to receive a pension, or a pension
at that rate, or to make an application for the alteration or
revocation of the provisional allowance of a claim for a pension,
that person may do so by sending to the Director of Social Services
a written statement of the question or written application as the
case may be, together with a summary of any evidence in support
of his allegations, and the Director of Social Services shall
investigate, and, subject to the provisions of this regulation, treat
the question or application in the same manner,  mutatis   mutandis ,
as he is by these regulations required to treat a claim:
Provided that the Director of Social Services shall not be
bound to investigate the question or the application in any case in
which -
( a ) the evidence adduced by the person in support of the
allegations made is not, in the opinion of the Director
of Social Services, substantial; or
( b ) less than six months have elapsed since the pension
was granted or since a similar question was
determined.
(2) Where under the provisions of the Act, payment of a
pension is discontinued upon the raising of a question as to the
disqualification of the pensioner, the Director of Social Services
shall notify the pensioner of the alleged reaasons for
disqualification and that payment of the pension will be suspended
pending the decision of the question.
(3) If it appears at any time that a pensioner who is in receipt
of a pension at a certain rate will at some future date become
entitled to a pension at a higher or at a lower rate, a question as to
the rate at which the pension should be paid as from that future date
may be raised at any time not longer that three months before that
future date, and if the Director of Social Services is satisfied that
the pension will become payable at a different rate at any time
within three months from the date on which the question is raised,
the Director of Social Services may provisionally determine that
the pension shall, as from a stated date, not being more than three
months later than the date on which the question is raised, be paid
at a stated different rate, and any such provisional determination
shall as from the stated date unless previously revoked or altered
take effect according to the terms thereof.
4 ġ S.L.318.01 OLD AGE PENSIONS
Evidence or 
information.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
13. For the purpose of determining any claim, question, or
application which is to be determined by him, the Director of
Social Services may have regard to any such evidence or
information as in his opinion is sufficient for the purpose, and is, in
his opinion, the best evidence or information which it is reasonably
possible to obtain.
Returns.
Amended by:
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962;
Act XLIV of 1965.
14. The Director of the Public Registry shall, once in every
week, send to the Director of Social Services a return, in such form
as the Minister may decide, of all deaths of persons of the age of
sixty years or upwards which have been registered by him in the
week immediately preceding that to which the return relates.
Payment of 
pensions.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
15. (1) Subject as hereinafter provided, pensions shall be paid
to the pensioner at such office of the Ministry as the Director of
Social Services any from time to time determine.
(2) In respect of every decision under which a pension
becomes or continues to be payable, the Director of Social Services
shall cause to be sent to the pensioner written authority to draw the
pension, and an intimation of the arrangements for the payment of
that pension in so far as they affect the pensioner.
(3) The pensioner shall furnish periodically a written
statement, in such form and at such times as the Director of Social
Services may determine, with respect to the pension continuing to
be payable to him; the provisions contained in regulation 5 shall, in
so far as applicable, apply to such statements.
(4) Notwithstanding anything in this regulation, the Director
of Social Services may in any particular case arrange for the
payment of the pension otherwise than through an office of the
Ministry.
Death of person 
entitled to a 
pension.
Amended  by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
16. Upon the death of a person entitled to a pension, any
person having possession or thereafter obtaining possession of a
written authority to draw that pension shall deliver to the Director
of Social Services the authority issued under regulation 15(2).
Sum payable on 
death.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
17. (1) In this regulation and in regulation 18, unless the
context otherwise requires, "sum payable on death" means -
( a ) in the case of the death of a pensioner, any sum which
became payable on account of the pension within the
three months preceding the date of death but has not
been paid; or
( b ) in the case of the death of a claimant of a pension, any
sum which, if the claim had been allowed immediately
before his death, would have become payable on
account of the pension up to the date of death.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Act but subject
to the provisions of these regulations, the Director of Social
Services may, if a claim to a sum payable on death is made to him
within three months of the death of the pensioner or, as the case
may be, of the claimant of the pension, make payment of the sum
payable on death.
OLD AGE PENSIONS ġ S.L.318.01 5
How sum payable 
on death is paid.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
18. (1) On the death of any pensioner or, as the case may be,
of any claimant to a pension, any sum payable on death in respect
of that person may be paid or distributed by the Director of Social
Services even if  judicial declaration of the opening of succession
or other proof of the title of the beneficiaries under the succession
of the deceased is not available, but nothing herein contained shall
authorise the Director of Social Services, where he has not already
made payment of the sum payable on death, to refuse payment of
such sum to any person entitled thereto who produces proof of title.
(2) Where the sum payable on death is payable to persons
appearing to the Director of Social Services to be beneficially
entitled thereto under any will or other testamentary instrument, the
sum payable on death may be paid to or distributed among such of
the persons aforesaid as the Director of Social Services thinks
proper and such payment or distribution shall be to the exclusion of
payment to all others but without prejudice to any remedy which
such others may have for recovery in whole or in part of the sums
so paid or distributed as aforesaid against the person or persons
who received payment.
(3) If a pensioner or, as the case may be, a claimant of a
pension dies intestate, any sum payable on death in respect of that
person may be paid or distributed by the Director of Social Services
to or among such persons as appear to him, upon such evidence
submitted to him as he may deem satisfactory, to be beneficially
entitled to receive that sum, whether as next of kin or otherwise
according to law or as creditors of the funeral expenses or
death-bed expenses of the deceased person, or may be paid to or
distributed among such of the persons aforesaid as the Director of
Social Services thinks proper and such payment or distribution
shall be to the exclusion of payment to all others:
Provided that, in the case of illegitimacy of the pensioner
or, as the case may be, of the claimant of the pension or of any
child of his, such person as in the opinion of the Director of Social
Services would have been entitled to the sum payable on death if
the deceased person or any child of his had been legitimate, may
for the purposes of this proviso be treated as a person beneficially
entitled thereto.
(4) Where any person who is a minor is entitled to receive any
sum payable on death in accordance with the provisions of this
regulation and it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director of
Social Services that that sum is needed for the benefit of such child,
the Director of Social Services may pay that sum or any part
thereof to any person who may satisfy him that the recipient will
apply such money for the benefit of such child, and the receipt of
such recipient shall be a good discharge to the Director of Social
Services for the sum so paid.
(5) Upon making any payment in accordance with the
provisions contained in this regulation, the Director of Social
Services shall be discharged from all liability in respect of any sum
or sums so paid.
6 ġ S.L.318.01 OLD AGE PENSIONS
Repayment of 
sums.
Amended by:
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962;
Act XLIV of 1965.
19. When a pensioner is liable to repay any sums due under the
provisions of the Act, and the Minister directs that those sums or
any part of them be deducted from the sums to which that person
will become entitled on account of a pension, the deduction shall be
made by withholding, as the Director of Social Services shall deem
fit, either the whole or a part of the payments on account of the
pension until the total of the sums withheld amounts to the total of
the sums so directed to be deducted.
Appointment of 
administrator.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
20. (1) Where any person, being either a person who is
alleged to be entitled to a pension or a claimant of a pension or a
pensioner, is by reason of any mental or other incapacity unable to
act and his estate is not being administered by any tutor, curator, or
other guardian acting or appointed in terms of law, an application
to the Director of Social Services may be made in accordance with
the provisions of this regulation for the appointment of an
administrator (whether he be the applicant or some other person) to
exercise on behalf of the person unable to act any right to which
that person may be entitled under the Act, and to receive on behalf
and for the benefit of that person any sum which may become
payable to that person by way or on account of a pension.
(2) On receipt of any such application as aforesaid, if the
Director of Social Services is satisfied that the person proposed to
be appointed is a fit and proper person to act for the purposes of
this regulation on behalf of the person unable to act and is willing
so to act the Director of Social Services may appoint the person
proposed accordingly:
Provided that -
( a ) no person being an officer or servant of the Ministry
and no person under eighteen years of age shall be
capable of being appointed to act under this regulation;
and
( b ) the Director of Social Services may at any time in his
absolute discretion revoke any appointment made
under this regulation; and
( c ) any person appointed under this regulation, may, on
giving the Director of Social Services one month’s
notice of his intention so to do, resign his office.
Oath.
Amended by:
Act XLIV of 1965.
21. For the purpose of these regulations and in connection with
the lawful discharge of his duties under the regulations, the
Director of Social Services shall have the power to administer an
oath to any person.
State-owned or 
state-subsidized 
hospitals.
Amended by:
Em. Ord. VI of 
1958;
Ord. XXV of 1962;
Act XLIV of 1965.
22. The Superintendent or other person in charge of a
state-owned or state-subsidized hospital or institution for old
persons shall render to the Director of Social Services a return, in
such form as the Minister may decide, in respect of each person
who has attained the age of sixty years who is admitted as an
inmate to the hospital or institution or discharged therefrom, and in
respect of each inmate who attains the age of sixty years whilst an
inmate a return shall similarly be rendered by the Director of
Prisons in respect of any such person detained in prison in
pursuance of an order made on his conviction for an offence and
OLD AGE PENSIONS ġ S.L.318.01 7
directing him to be imprisoned without the option of a fine or to
suffer any greater punishment.
