{"id":"C1914A00034","name":"War Pensions Act 1914","slug":"war-pensions-act-1914","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"34 of 1914","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":12759,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1914A00034-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-31","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"War Pensions Act 1914","content":"WAR PENSIONS.\n\nNo. 34 of 1914.\n\nAn Act to provide for the grant of Pensions upon the death or incapacity of Members of the Defence Force of the Commonwealth and Members of the Imperial Reserve Forces resident in Australia, whose death or incapacity results from their employment in connexion with warlike operations.\n\n\\[Assented to 21st December, 1914.\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the War Pensions Act 1914.\n\nDefinitions.\n\n2. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—\n\n“Child” means any dependant under the age of sixteen years, being a son, daughter, step-son, step-daughter, or adopted child of a member of the Forces;\n\n \n\n“Dependants” means such of the members of the family of a member of the Forces, whose death or incapacity results from his employment in connexion with warlike operations, as were wholly or in part dependent upon his earnings at the time of his death, or who would, but for such incapacity, have been so dependent, and includes parents who though not dependent upon the earnings of the member at the time of his death are, at any time within five years after such death, without adequate means of support; and where the member—\n\n(a) being the parent or grandparent of an ex-nuptial child, leaves the child so dependent upon his earnings, or\n\n(b) being an ex-nuptial child, leaves a parent or grandparent so dependent upon his earnings,\n\nincludes such an ex-nuptial child and parent or grandparent respectively;\n\n“Incapacity” includes incapacity of a member of the Forces arising from disease, not due to the default of the member, contracted by him while employed on active service;\n\n“Instalment” means an instalment of a pension;\n\n“Member of the Forces” means a member of the Commonwealth Naval or Military Forces enlisted or appointed for or employed on active service outside Australia or employed on a ship of war;\n\n“Member of a family” means wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, adopted child, or mother-in-law;\n\n“Minister” means the Treasurer of the Commonwealth;\n\n“Other dependants” means dependants of a member of the Forces other than his wife (or widow) and children;\n\n“Pension” means a pension under this Act;\n\n“The Pensions Board” means the Pensions Board appointed in pursuance of this Act;\n\n“The rate of pay of the member” means the rate of pay received by the member of the Forces as a member at the time of the occurrence of the casualty or the contraction of the disease which resulted in his death or incapacity, and includes such allowances as are prescribed by the regulations under this Act;\n\n“This Act” includes all regulations made thereunder.\n\nPensions upon death or incapacity in consequence of warlike operations.\n\n3. Upon the death or incapacity of any member of the Forces whose death or incapacity results or has resulted from his employment in connexion with warlike operations in which His Majesty is, or has since the commencement of the present state of war been, engaged, the Commonwealth shall subject to this Act be liable to pay to the member or his dependants, or both, as the case may be, pensions in accordance with this Act.\n\nProvided that—\n\n(a) a claim for payment of a pension in accordance with this Act is made—\n\n(i) in case of the death of a member of the Forces—by a dependant not more than six months after the date of the public notification by the Minister in the Gazette of the death of the member, or, by parents who though not dependent upon the earnings of the member at the time of his death are at any time within five years after such death, without adequate means of support, within five years after such death; and\n\n(ii) in case of the incapacity of a member of the Forces—by the member or a dependant not more than six months after the termination of the appointment or discharge of the member; and\n\n(b) if the member or his dependants is or are entitled under any other Act to receive any payment by way of compensation, pension, retiring allowance, superannuation or gratuity, the right to payment by way of pension in accordance with this Act shall be taken to be substituted for the right of the member or his dependants to any payment by the Commonwealth under such other Act and the right of the member or his dependants under that other Act shall be by force of this Act determined; and\n\n(c) if the member or his dependants is or are entitled under any Imperial Act or State Act to receive any payment by way of compensation, pension, retiring allowance, superannuation, or gratuity, the rate or amount of that payment shall be taken into account in assessing the rate of pension payable under this Act.\n\nAppointment and constitution of board.\n\n4.—(1.) There shall be a Pensions Board of three persons constituted in the prescribed manner.\n\n(2.) The members of the Pensions Board shall be appointed by the Minister, and shall hold office as prescribed.\n\n(3.) One of the members of the Pensions Board shall be a qualified medical practitioner.\n\n(4.) The Pensions Board shall be charged with the duties of—\n\n(a) determining whether the death or incapacity of a member of the Forces in fact resulted from his employment in connexion with warlike operations, and in the case of incapacity the nature and extent thereof;\n\n(b) determining the extent to which persons alleged to be dependent upon a member of the Forces were in fact so dependent;\n\n(c) assessing the rates of pensions of members of the Forces and their dependants; and\n\n(d) such other duties as are prescribed.\n\n \n\nPowers of Pensions Board.\n\n5.—(1.) The Pensions Board or any member thereof may—\n\n(a) summon witnesses;\n\n(b) take evidence on oath; and\n\n(c) require the production of documents.\n\n(2.) No person who has been summoned to appear as a witness before the Pensions Board or any member thereof shall, without lawful excuse, and after tender of reasonable expenses, fail to appear in answer to the summons.\n\nPenalty: Twenty pounds.\n\n(3.) No person who appears before the Pensions Board or any member thereof as a witness shall, without lawful excuse, refuse to be sworn, or to make an affirmation, or to produce documents, or to answer questions which he is lawfully required to answer.\n\nPenalty: Fifty pounds.\n\nAssessment or determination subject to Minister’s approval.\n\n6. Any assessment or determination of the Pensions Board under this Act shall be subject to the approval of the Minister.\n\nReview by Pensions Board.\n\n7. Whenever it appears to the Pensions Board that under this Act sufficient reason exists for reviewing any assessment or determination under this Act the Pensions Board may review the assessment or determination.\n\nRates of pensions.\n\n8. The rates of pensions payable under this Act shall not exceed the following:—\n\n(a) In case of the death of a member of the Forces—\n\n(i) to the widow, the rate specified in column two of the Schedule opposite to the rate of pay of the member, and\n\n(ii) to each child, the rate of Thirteen pounds per annum, and\n\n(iii) to the other dependants such rates as are assessed by the Pensions Board, but not exceeding in the aggregate the rate specified in column two of the Schedule opposite to the rate of pay of the member plus Fifty-two pounds per annum:\n\nProvided that the maximum rate of pension payable to any one dependant of a member shall not in any case exceed the amount specified in column two of the Schedule opposite to the rate of pay of the member.\n\n(b) In case of the total incapacity of a member of the Forces—\n\n(i) to the member, the rate specified in column three of the Schedule opposite to the rate of pay of the member, and\n\n(ii) to the wife of the member, fifty per centum of that rate, and\n\n(iii) to each child of the member, the rate of Thirteen pounds per annum.\n\n \n\n(C) In case of the partial incapacity of a member of the Forces, such less rates than those referred to in paragraph (B) as are assessed by the Pensions Board, having regard to the nature and probable duration of the incapacity.\n\nPayment of lump sum may be substituted in certain cases.\n\n9. Where the Pensions Board is satisfied that in the case of any member of the Forces the rate of pension payable under this Act is not more than thirty per centum of the rate which would be payable as for the total incapacity of the member, the Pensions Board may, with the sanction of the Minister, assess the lump sum which would in its opinion be equivalent to the payment of a pension under this Act, and in that case the liability to payment of the lump sum so assessed shall be substituted for the liability to payment of a pension under this Act.\n\nPensions payable to widows only during widowhood.\n\n10. A pension payable under this Act to the widow of a member of the Forces shall cease upon her re-marriage.\n\nPensions to be approved by Governor-General.\n\n11. A pension under this Act shall not be payable until approved by the Governor-General.\n\nPensions payable from moneys appropriated.\n\n12. Pensions granted pursuant to this Act shall be payable out of moneys from time to time appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.\n\nPension absolutely inalienable, No. 17, 1908, s. 41.\n\n13. Subject to this Act, a pension shall be absolutely inalienable whether by way or in consequence of sale, assignment, charge, execution, insolvency, or otherwise howsoever.\n\nOffences.\n\n14. Any person who—\n\n(a) obtains any pension or instalment which is not payable;\n\n(b) obtains payment of any pension or instalment by means of any false or misleading statement; or\n\n(c) makes or presents to the Minister or to the Pensions Board or to any officer doing duty in relation to this Act or the regulations, any statement or document which is false in any particular,\n\nshall be guilty of an offence.\n\nPenalty: One hundred pounds or imprisonment for one year.\n\nExtension of Act to British Reservists.\n\n15. The provisions of this Act shall extend to the case of any soldier of the Imperial Reserve Forces called up for active service who at the commencement of the present state of war was bonâ fide resident in Australia, as if that soldier were a member of the Forces as defined in this Act:\n\nProvided that where the soldier or his dependants is or are entitled to any pension or compensation under any Imperial Act the rate or amount of that pension or compensation shall be taken into account in assessing the rate of pension payable under this Act:\n\nProvided further that a pension shall not be payable under this section to any person who is not bonâ fide resident in Australia.\n\n \n\nRegulations.\n\n16. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for in giving effect to this Act, and in particular for prescribing the manner in which pensions or instalments due to persons who are under any incapacity or disability may be dealt with.\n\nTHE SCHEDULE.\n\nScale of Pensions Payable to Widow on Death of a Member of the Forces or to a Member upon Total Incapacity.\n\n```html\n

Column One.

—

Column Two.

—

Column Three.

—

Rate of pay of the member per day.

Pension payable to widow on death of member.

Pension payable to member upon total incapacity.

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

6

0

52

0

0

per annum

52

0

0

per annum

7

0

56

0

0

„

„

56

0

0

„

„

9

0

64

0

0

„

„

64

0

0

„

„

10

0

68

0

0

„

„

68

0

0

„

„

10

6

70

0

0

„

„

70

0

0

„

„

11

6

73

0

0

„

„

73

0

0

„

„

12

0

74

10

0

„

„

74

10

0

„

„

13

0

77

10

0

„

„

77

10

0

„

„

17

6

91

0

0

„

„

91

0

0

„

„

22

6

101

0

0

„

„

101

0

0

„

„

30

0

116

0

0

„

„

116

0

0

„

„

37

6

131

0

0

„

„

131

0

0

„

„

45

0

146

0

0

„

„

146

0

0

„

„

50

0

156

0

0

„

„

156

0

0

„

„

and upwards.

\n```\n\nWhere the rate of pay of a member of the Forces exceeds a rate shown in column one of this Schedule and is less than the next higher rate in that column, the rates of pensions payable for the purposes of columns two and three shall be computed by adding to the rate of pension shown in those columns opposite to the next lower rate of pay the sum which bears to the difference between that rate of pension and the next higher rate of pension shown in those columns the proportion which the difference between the rate of pay received by the member and the next lower rate of pay shown in column one bears to the difference between the next lower and the next higher rates of pay in that column.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"model":"kimi-k2.5","source":"moonshot-realtime","completionTokens":1804},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose of providing death and incapacity pensions for war service. The extension to Imperial Reserve Forces in section 15 implements the long title's stated intent to cover British reservists resident in Australia, rather than expanding beyond the Act's initial scope."},"complexity_factors":["Mathematical interpolation formula in the Schedule for calculating rates between pay grades","Lengthy definition of 'Dependants' including conditional provisions for ex-nuptial children and parents' means testing within 5-year window","Triple approval hierarchy requiring Pensions Board assessment, Ministerial approval, and Governor-General sign-off","Multiple provisos in section 3 creating layered exceptions for time limits, other statutory entitlements, and Imperial/State Act offsets"],"plain_english_summary":"This 1914 Act established Australia's first comprehensive war pensions scheme for World War I, creating a system to financially support soldiers and their families when death or injury occurred due to active service.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Pays families of deceased soldiers**: Widows receive annual pensions based on the soldier's pay rate (ranging from £52 to £156 per year), plus £13 per year for each child under 16. Other dependants (parents, siblings, etc.) can claim if they were financially dependent on the soldier.\n- **Pays injured soldiers**: Soldiers who are totally incapacitated receive pensions matching the widow's rates, plus their wives get 50% of that amount and children get £13 each. Partial incapacity receives reduced rates assessed by the Board.\n- **Creates the Pensions Board**: A three-person panel (including a doctor) that investigates claims, determines if death/injury was war-related, decides who was financially dependent, and calculates payment amounts.\n\n**Who is covered:**\n- Members of Australia's Naval or Military Forces serving outside Australia or on warships\n- British Imperial Reserve Forces soldiers who were living in Australia when war broke out (section 15)\n\n**Important conditions:**\n- Claims must be made within **6 months** of death or discharge (except parents without means, who have 5 years)\n- Pensions are **inalienable**—they cannot be sold, transferred, or taken by creditors\n- A widow's pension **stops if she remarries**\n- The Board can offer a **lump sum** instead of ongoing payments for minor disabilities (under 30% incapacity)\n- **Fraud** (lying to get payments) carries penalties of £100 or one year in prison\n\n**How payments are calculated:**\nThe Schedule sets pension rates based on the soldier's daily pay. If a soldier's pay fell between two listed amounts, a mathematical formula interpolates the exact pension rate."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The text of the Act itself establishes a program of Commonwealth war pensions for deaths and incapacities arising from warlike operations and extends that program to bona fide Australian residents among Imperial reservists (s 3, s 15). The Act does not contain internal text indicating any change from a prior scope or intent; there is no provision within the Act that alters or narrows the categories it establishes beyond the definitions and conditions set out in the sections cited."},"complexity_factors":["Detailed definitions and multiple categories of dependants and family relationships (s 2).","Combination of fact‑finding (Pensions Board) with executive approvals (Minister approval of assessments (s 6) and Governor‑General approval of pensions (s 11)).","Statutory time limits and conditional claim windows (s 3 proviso (a)).","Schedule with stepped pension rates plus an interpolation rule for intermediate pay rates (Schedule).","Multiple cross‑program interactions: substitution for other Commonwealth payments and requirement to take Imperial/State payments into account (s 3(b)–(c), s 15).","Board’s investigatory powers, sworn testimony and criminal penalties for non‑compliance (s 5, s 14).","Regulatory delegation to the Governor‑General for procedural detail (s 16).","Optional lump‑sum conversion for small pensions requiring Ministerial sanction (s 9), creating alternative payment calculations."],"plain_english_summary":"### What this law does, in plain English\n\n- The Act creates a system of war pensions to be paid by the Commonwealth to members of the Defence Forces (and certain Imperial reservists resident in Australia) or their dependants when death or incapacity results from employment connected with warlike operations (s 3, s 15).\n\n- It sets who counts as dependants and children for the purpose of pension entitlement and defines key terms used throughout the Act (s 2).\n\n- A three‑member Pensions Board, including a medical practitioner, is appointed to decide whether a death or incapacity was caused by war service, to assess dependency and to recommend pension rates (s 4(1)–(4)). The Board can summon witnesses, take evidence on oath and require documents (s 5).\n\n- The Board’s findings and rate assessments are subject to the Treasurer’s approval (the Minister) (s 6). A pension must also be approved by the Governor‑General before payment (s 11).\n\n- The Act fixes maximum pension amounts and basic rates: a widow’s pension and a member’s pension on total incapacity are set by reference to a printed Schedule; each child’s pension is set at £13 per year; other dependants are assessed up to overall caps tied to the Schedule (s 8 and Schedule). Where pay falls between steps in the Schedule, the pension is calculated by proportional interpolation (Schedule).\n\n- The Board, with the Minister’s sanction, may convert small assessed pensions (no more than 30% of a total incapacity rate) into a lump‑sum instead of ongoing payments (s 9).\n\n- A widow’s pension ends if she remarries (s 10). Pensions are paid from parliamentary appropriations (s 12) and, once granted, are inalienable — they cannot be sold, assigned or seized (s 13).\n\n- The Act prevents double‑payment by substituting its pension for other Commonwealth payments where both would apply; it also requires taking into account Imperial or State pensions or compensations in assessing amounts (s 3(b)–(c), s 15).\n\n- The Act makes it an offence to obtain a pension by false or misleading statements or to present false documents, with criminal penalties (s 14). It also prescribes penalties (fines) for refusing to obey a Board summons or to answer on oath (s 5(2)–(3)).\n\n- The Governor‑General may make regulations to implement the Act, including procedures for handling pensions or instalments for persons under incapacity (s 16).\n\n\nWho pays, who decides, and what changes in behaviour the law creates\n\n- Who pays: the Commonwealth — pensions are payable out of moneys appropriated by Parliament (s 12). Taxpayers ultimately bear the cost of the program.\n\n- Who decides: the Pensions Board investigates and assesses causal connection, dependency and rates (s 4). The Treasurer (the Minister) must approve the Board’s assessments (s 6). The Governor‑General must approve each pension before payment (s 11). Regulations may further allocate procedural detail (s 16).\n\n- Behavioural effects and compliance triggers:\n - Potential claimants must lodge claims within statutory time limits (six months in many cases; parents may have up to five years in limited circumstances) (s 3 proviso (a)).\n - Claimants and witnesses face evidentiary and attendance obligations: the Board can summon them and require documents, with statutory penalties for non‑compliance (s 5). Claimants risk criminal penalties for false statements (s 14).\n - The Board can recommend lump sums in lieu of small ongoing pensions, which changes the long‑term payment profile for the Commonwealth and the claimant (s 9).\n\n\nImplementation, discretion and administrative burdens (mechanical consequences)\n\n- Centralised administrative control: although the Board carries out fact‑finding and assessment, the Minister must approve assessments (s 6) and the Governor‑General must approve pensions (s 11). Those approvals create points of executive discretion in every case.\n\n- Evidentiary and procedural burden on claimants: the Board’s power to summon witnesses and require documents (s 5), plus the statutory time limits for claims (s 3 proviso (a)), mean claimants must assemble evidence promptly and may be required to give sworn testimony.\n\n- Administrative workload and cost: the Board must medically and financially assess causation, incapacity degree and dependency (s 4(4)(a)–(c)). The Schedule’s step rates and the interpolation rule require calculation for pay grades between steps (Schedule), and the Board or administrators must coordinate with other Commonwealth, Imperial or State benefit programs to avoid duplicative payment (s 3(b)–(c), s 15).\n\n- Regulatory discretion: the Governor‑General may make implementing regulations (s 16), including rules for handling payments to persons under incapacity, which hands detail to executive regulation rather than the Act itself.\n\n\nHow the measure affects private actors and markets (mechanisms, not judgments)\n\n- Direct market impact is limited: the Act creates a public transfer (pensions) to individuals; it does not regulate prices, competition, ownership, or private contract terms.\n\n- Effect on private employers or insurance markets: the Act substitutes a Commonwealth pension where other Commonwealth payments would otherwise arise (s 3(b)). It also requires the Board to take Imperial or State payments into account (s 3(c), s 15). Those rules change the net entitlement of recipients who might otherwise claim multiple public payments, which can affect private decisions about buying supplementary insurance but the Act does not itself compel private parties.\n\n- Distribution of costs and benefits: benefits flow to a concentrated group (eligible members and dependants). Costs are borne broadly by the Commonwealth via parliamentary appropriation (s 12). The Act’s mechanisms (fixed rates, inalienability s 13, cessation on remarriage s 10) shape who receives and retains benefits.\n\n\nTrade‑offs, risks and practical constraints (mechanisms to watch)\n\n- Substitution rules (s 3(b)–(c), s 15) reduce duplicative Commonwealth payments but require cross‑program information sharing and administrative matching.\n\n- Ministerial and Governor‑General approvals (s 6, s 11) provide formal checks but concentrate discretion and can slow payment decisions.\n\n- Time limits for claims (s 3 proviso (a)) reduce open‑ended liability for the Commonwealth but create the risk that valid claimants miss deadlines.\n\n- The Board’s investigatory powers (s 5) and criminal penalties for false claims (s 14) aim to limit fraud, but they impose evidentiary and compliance costs on claimants and administrative oversight costs on government.\n\n\nSource references: selected provisions cited above — Definitions and scope (s 2, s 3), Board constitution and duties (s 4), Board powers and penalties (s 5), Ministerial/Governor‑General approvals (s 6, s 11), Rates and Schedule (s 8, Schedule), Lump‑sum option (s 9), Widow remarriage rule (s 10), Appropriation (s 12), Inalienability (s 13), Offences (s 14), Extension to Imperial reservists (s 15), Regulations (s 16)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914","history":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914/history","analysis":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/war-pensions-act-1914/documents"}}