Coroners and Justice Bill
12:00 pm
André Rebello: My wife does. The big difficulty I see is that each coroner, even with the Bill, has to negotiate locally for terms and conditions. It surprises the Bar and the main judiciary that I have to work for 40 years to get my pension. The judiciary has a judicial pension after 20 years. It is not surprising that, apart from the more senior members of the judiciary, most judges retire in their early 60s. Most coroners have to keep going until they are 70 or nearly 80 because they cannot afford to retire. That is an historical issue.
When I left private practice in 1999 to become a full-time coroner, after having been a part-time coroner, my income halved. At that stage, I was buying into my partnership. The money I got from my partnership paid off my loans and I had no pension. I started from scratch. If I was a circuit judge or a High Court judge, after 20 years I would have a full judicial pension. I could retire and leave it to other people to get on with the work. As a coroner, I have to pay into the local government pension scheme for 40 years. It seems nonsensical that nothing in the Bill sets national standards for terms for coroners. Parliament has an opportunity to put things right and to set the right tone. That opportunity should be taken.