State financial support for families had been introduced in various forms since 1911, but always subject to conditions such as means or asset testing. The 1946 legislation made the family benefit payable in respect of every child under the age of sixteen years, with extension to the end of the year in which the child turned eighteen provided the young person was in full-time education or incapacitated and therefore unable to earn a living. The benefit was normally paid to the mother, giving many women their first independent household income.