asked the Minister for the Public Service the amount of benefits, gratuity and weekly pension payable to a building trade worker retired with 40 years' service on 1st May, 1977, including five years' Emergency service with no Army Pension, at a wage of £48.64, and assuming the unmarried pensioner is entitled to the maximum social welfare pension, under age 80, under the following headings: (a) the gratuity and weekly service pension payable on 1st May, 1977, and the social welfare pension for an unmarried pensioner; (b) the increase in gratuity and weekly service pension payable under the directions of 19th August, 1977; (c) the weekly service pension and weekly social welfare pension for an unmarried pensioner now payable, (d) the amount of weekly widow's service pension which would be payable if the scheme for established civil servants were extended to industrial grades, assuming the circumstances in this question and (e) the multipliers for calculating the service benefits in each case.
Written Answers. - Building Trade Workers.
The information required is as follows: (a) Gratuity, £3,522.88, weekly equivalent of service pension, £9.70, Social Welfare pension, £13.90; (b) increase in gratuity, £285.64, weekly equivalent of increase in service pension, £0.78; (c) weekly equivalent of service pension now payable, £10.48, weekly Social Welfare pension now payable, £14.60; (d) if a contributory widow's and children's pension scheme had been in operation on 1st May, 1977, the weekly widow's pension payable to the widow of a pensioner whose marriage took place before his retirement, would be one-half of the service pension in (c) above, namely, £5.24; (e) the gratuity is calculated as 3/80th of annual remuneration for each year of pensionable service. In (a) above, pensionable service is 37 years, that is, 35 years plus two years Emergency Army service. Under the directions of 19th August, 1977, pensionable service increases to 40 years, that is, 35 years plus five years Emergency Army service.
Service pension is calculated as 1/80th of the amount by which annual remuneration exceeds twice the annual equivalent of the Social Welfare old age contributory pension payable. The annual equivalent of the old age pension is obtained by multiplying the weekly rate of pension by 52. Service pensions are calculated on an annual basis; to obtain the weekly equivalent the annual rate is divided by 52 1/7th.