Social Security Act 1973

5 (1) The contribution conditions for a widowed mother's allowance, a widow's pension or a Category A or Category B retirement pension are the following.

(2) The first condition is that—

(a) the contributor concerned must in respect of any one relevant year have actually paid contributions of a relevant class ; and

(b) the earnings factor derived from those contributions must be not less than that year's lower earnings limit multiplied by 50.

(3) The second condition is that—

(a) the contributor concerned must in respect of each of not less than the requisite number of years of his working life have paid or been credited with contributions of a relevant class ; and

(b) in the case of the contributions of each of those years, the earnings factor derived from them must be not less than that year's lower earnings limit multiplied by 50.

(4) For the purposes of the first condition, a relevant year is any year ending before that in which the contributor concerned attained pensionable age or died under that age ; and the following table shows the requisite number of years for the purpose of the second condition, by reference to a working life of a given duration:—

Duration of working life	Requisite number of years
10 years or less	The number of years of the working life, minus 1.
20 years or less (but more than 10)	The number of years of the working life, minus 2.
30 years or less (but more than 20)	The number of years of the working life, minus 3.
40 years or less (but more than 30)	The number of years of the working life, minus 4.
More than 40 years	The number of years of the working life, minus 5.

(5) The first condition shall be deemed to be satisfied if the contributor concerned was entitled to an invalidity pension at any time during—

(a) the year in which he attained pensionable age or died under that age, or

(b) the year immediately preceding that year.