The Epidemic Allowance (Epidemic Pension) was introduced as an immediate response to the sudden deaths during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The Allowance provided for widows whose husbands had died in the epidemic and for the support of children of widowers through the employment of housekeepers. The Epidemic Allowance was initially paid by the Health Department. In 1920, its administration was transferred to the Pensions Department.[i]
Footnotes
[i] go to main content Alex McKenzie, Social Assistance Chronology 1844–2022: A historical summary of social security benefits, war pensions, retirement pensions, taxation measures, family assistance, housing assistance, student support and labour market programmes (as at April 2022), Ministry of Social Development, pp. 27–8.