I move:
That a sum not exceeding £72,200 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1960, for payment of Increases in certain Pensions, etc., in respect of public service.
This is to cover the Budget provision for the increase of pensions to State pensioners. The cost of that provision in a full year would be £127,000. It is payable this year from the 1st August and consequently the cost is £72,200. The factors which govern the grant of this increased pension are length of service and salary on retirement. Superannuation terms are prescribed by statute and in most cases provide that pension on retirement would be a due proportion of retiring pay and this addition is given in certain cases.
Generally the increases will be payable to the classes covered by the Pensions (Increase) Acts 1950 and 1956, that is, former civil servants and officers of local authorities (including vocational teachers), former members of the Garda Siochána and their widows, and pensioned national teachers. Army retired pay and disability pensions, military service pensions and Connaught Rangers' pensions will also be increased. Corresponding increases will be allowed in the pensions of former employees of local authorities and of harbour authorities, and a small provision has been included in the Estimate to meet any charges which may fall upon the Exchequer during the current financial year in respect of recoupments of increases in local authority pensions.
The increases are restricted to pensioners whose pensions were calculated by reference to the salaries payable before the general pay increase of 1952. The pensions of those who retired before the operative date of the general pay increase of 1948 will be increased by six per cent. The pensions of those who retired after the 1948 pay increase and before the operative date of the general pay increase of 1952, will be increased by four per cent. The operative dates in most cases will be the 1st November, 1948, or the 1st November, 1952, but cases where the pay increases were effective from other dates will be determined by the appropriate dates. An overriding limit will apply so that no pension will be increased to an amount greater than the pension payable to a pensioner of corresponding rank and service who retired immediately after the 1952 pay increase.
The work of assessing the increases in the various pensions is already in hand. A few pensions will, however, have to await the passage of the new Pensions (Increase) Bill before payment can be made.