asked the Minister for Health if he is satisfied that a pension of £238 10s per annum for a nurse retiring after 41 years' service is fair and reasonable; and, if not, if he will take steps to have nurses' pensions raised to a reasonable level.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pensions of Nurses.
82.
I presume that the Deputy has in mind a pension payable to a nurse on retirement from a public voluntary hospital the authorities of which have not made provision for staff superannuation. A person who, under the special provisions to which I shall presently refer, qualifies for a pension of the amount mentioned would also receive on retirement a lump sum of approximately £636, and had the employing hospital authority adopted a scheme within the scope of the arrangements approved by my predecessor in 1954 the pension would be approximately £320, and the lump sum £850.
The provision of superannuation schemes for their staffs is a matter for the authorities of each such hospital. In 1954 the hospitals concerned were informed that the cost of such schemes would rank pari passu with the other revenue expenditure for the purpose of determination of grants from the Hospitals Trust Fund towards the revenue deficits. This undertaking was subject to the limitation that the benefits to be provided should not exceed those which would be available to similar staffs in the employment of local authorities. The authorities of some hospitals availed themselves of this means of providing for retirement benefits for their staffs and others had, in fact, already made such provision. Others, however, made no superannuation arrangements.
In order that benefits should be made available to persons retiring from employment in the last-mentioned hospitals it was agreed in 1963 that, in so far as the recoupment of revenue deficits is concerned, a lump sum and pension might be awarded to persons who, if they had been employed by a local authority, would have qualified for such payments. As the terms of employment do not provide for the grant of superannuation benefits in such a case and as the persons concerned have not paid pension contributions during their employment the benefits, while calculated in accordance with the provision of the local government superannuation code, are based on one-half of actual service. Similarly where a pension scheme was introduced in the course of a person's service, the service before the operation of the scheme is reckonable as to one-half.
I am advised that, having regard to accepted standards of superannuation schemes, this is a generous provision in respect of service for which no superannuation commitment exists.