I move:
That a supplementary sum, not exceeding £102,400, be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1943, for Wound and Disability Pensions, Further Pensions and Married Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 26 of 1923, No. 12 of 1927, No. 24 of 1932, No. 15 of 1937, and No. 2 of 1941), Military Service Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 48 of 1924, No. 26 of 1932, No. 43 of 1934, and No. 33 of 1938), Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 37 of 1936), and for sundry Contributions and Expenses in respect thereof, etc.
The main cause of this Supplementary Estimate for the Army Pensions Vote 1942/43 is that the Department under-estimated the number of awards which would fall for payment during the year. In making this under-estimation, the Department was influenced by the fact that in recent financial years it had in framing its Estimates relied mainly on the output of awards as computed by the different statutory bodies concerned, and that this Estimate had been found by experience to be inaccurate, and had caused large Exchequer surrenders which were the cause of some comment. Thus in 1937/38 the surrender was £58,755; in 1938/39, £45,920; in 1939/40, £45,877; in 1940/41, £85,548; and in 1941/42, £68,195. To avoid such large surrenders, the Department in 1942/43 cut the figures furnished by the statutory bodies, and, by doing so, has now found that the money necessary to finance the awards made under the different Acts has been under-estimated to the extent of about £102,400.
How this sum is made up will be clear from the amounts set out under the different sub-heads of the Vote. Thus, under sub-head E, an additional sum of £450 is required to meet the salaries, wages and allowances of the referee and advisory committee. In introducing the annual Estimate for the Army Pensions Vote for the financial year 1942/43, it was stated:
"The Estimate proceeds on the basis that the referee and interviewing officers will practically cease to function on the 31st March, 1942, and that the advisory committee will be required for only four months and the administrative staff for only eight of the new financial year."
At the time it was distinctly stated that "these time limits were only provisional," and in point of fact the actual course of events has shown that our expectations were not realised. The interviewing officers were released from their duty with the committee at the end of March, 1942, and it was found possible to effect a reduction in the administrative staff of the committee, but it was found necessary to retain the services of the advisory committee itself and of portion of the staff during the whole of the financial year, so that we shall require a net sum of £450 more than originally anticipated to pay the salaries, wages and allowances of the committee for the financial year.
Under sub-head G, a further sum of £1,000 is required, because we have more applications than we anticipated would succeed for wound and disability pensions and gratuities under the Acts of 1927, 1932 and 1941. As regards the additional sum of £500 required under sub-head H for allowances and gratuities to dependents, that excess is mainly due to the fact that during the year we were able to clear off with the Department of Finance a number of applications for gratuities under the 1932 Act, which had been outstanding over a number of years in the past.
Hospital Treatment—sub-head J—is dependent entirely on the number of cases which the Army Pensions Board is able to handle, and they have dealt with more cases and their investigations have in some cases taken a longer time than we expected. Here the amount required will be an additional £250.
Compared with the additional amount of £98,000 required under sub-head K in respect of military service pensions, the sums needed under the other sub-heads are relatively small, and, consequently, the chief cause of the Supplementary Estimate lies in this particular sub-head. The under-estimation here is due entirely to the fact that more awards than we thought probable when the annual Estimate was framed in December, 1941, were actually made during the financial year 1942/43. When the Estimate for 1942/43 was framed, there were under payment in respect of the 1924 and 1934 Acts no less than 10,730 pensions, and the Department prepared its budget on the basis that about 1,130 fresh awards, mainly under the 1934 Act, would be made between December, 1941, and March, 1943, especially in view of the large surpluses which had accrued in previous years in respect of this particular sub-head. This would give 11,860 pensions by the end of the financial year 1942/43. The forecast, however, proved to be inaccurate, because at the end of December there were 12,918 awards actually under payment, and, in addition, we had received from the referee 912 additional favourable reports.
For one reason or another not all of these reports will fall for payment before the end of March. Some of the grantees are abroad and may not be able to complete all the necessary formalities before the end of the year, and even in the case of grantees living at home, we find that delays occur in acknowledging the receipt of certificates and in completing the formalities necessary to payment. Taking the various factors of delay into consideration, we consider that of the 912 awards mentioned, only about 612 will fall as a charge to the Vote during the year, so that this Supplementary Estimate proceeds on the assumption that on the 31st March, 1943, there will be 13,530 awards in course of payment. In this connection, it must be remembered that each new award carries with it arrears of pension back to the 1st October, 1934
Depending as it does on the retirement of officers and the discharge of other ranks from the Army, it is not easy in the absence or suspension of regulations dealing with ages of retirement, to estimate with accuracy requirements under sub-head L of the Vote which carries the cost of pensions and gratuities under the Defence Forces pensions schemes granted in respect of service to personnel of the forces. The annual Estimate for 1942/43 provided for about 110 pensions and that Estimate proved accurate for at the end of December, 1942, there were 102 under pay and there have been several other cases in which pensions will be payable since that date. In the matter of gratuities, however, our forecast was inaccurate because against a provision of £3,450 we have already spent £3,700, and in addition we have already on hands other cases which will cost about £850.
Finally, sub-head M deals with the expenses of applicants and of witnesses attending for examination before the statutory bodies administering the different Acts, and it is, therefore, closely connected with the work of these bodies. The amount now required under this sub-head is nearly double the original estimate of £3,000, and is mainly due to the increased activities already described of the referee and advisory committee. On 31st December, 1942, the charge under this sub-head was already £5,083, due to the fact that efforts were being made to dispose of all applications under the 1934 Act, and that, in consequence, it was necessary to have more frequent conferences with verifying officers than had been originally anticipated.