Orders of the Day — Clause 2. — (Superannuation of certain persons serving in the educational service otherwise than as teachers.)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 March 1945.

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Photo of Mr James Ede Mr James Ede , South Shields 12:00, 9 March 1945

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

The proviso to Sub-section (1) of this Clause provides that the employment of a person as organiser of the kind indicated shall not be treated as employment in contributory service under the principal Act, unless that person has previously been employed for not less than three years as. a teacher in a capacity approved by the Minister. The purpose of the Amendment, which was not a Government Amendment, is to secure that where a period of war service is treated as if it were a period of contributory service under the Teachers Superannuation (War Service) Act, 1939, such period of war service shall count as a period of service as a teacher in a capacity approved by the Minister. That is to say, it is possible for a teacher who is in the Forces to have had less than three years' service and to be in the Forces for considerably longer than three years, and then come out and, for the purposes of this Clause as originally drafted, still to be regarded as having less than three years' service. The Amendment says, to put it quite shortly, that a man may count his service in the Forces as if he had actually been in school. It is not likely to affect a very large number of persons, but those persons would clearly be suffering under an injustice if the Amendment were not adopted. I hope that the House will agree to it.