Orders of the Day — Pensions (Increase) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 November 1962.

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Photo of Mr James Ede Mr James Ede , South Shields 12:00, 9 November 1962

I have to declare an interest in this matter, and also to apologise to the House in that I did not discover that interest until it was brought to my attention by the Ministry of Education in January, 1961. Therefore, I have been present in the House when previous Bills have been discussed, and, although I never took any part in the discussions, I did not at that time disclose that interest. In view of the way in which the Civil Service is sometimes criticised for its attitude in these matters, I hope I shall be allowed to read to the House a letter which I received when staying in Devonshire during the Christmas Recess of 1960–61.

The letter is dated 9th January, 1961, which is type-written, but with a rubber stamp mark "10th January, 1961". It reads as follows: My staff have been going through the files of certificated teachers whose only connection with teachers' superannuation was that, before 1919, they paid contributions towards a deferred annuity under the old Elementary School Teachers' (Superannuation) Acts, 1898 to 1912, and have found yours among them. In practically all of these cases, we have no knowledge of the teacher's whereabouts or whether he is alive or dead.I am happy, therefore, in your case, to be in a position to let you know that you are entitled to a deferred annuity of £11 1s. 8d. payable from 11th September, 1947, and that since 1st April, 1956, this annuity has been increased under Pensions (Increase) Acts to about twice this amount. Instructions for payment have been issued to H.M. Paymaster-General, and application should be made to him on the enclosed form. You should also complete and forward to him the enclosed form Gen.266B, so that the exact amount of the increase payable under the Pensions (Increase) Acts can be calculated.A copy of the 'Pensioner's Guide to the Pensions (Increase) Acts' is enclosed for your information. A former private secretary of mine, when I was at the Ministry, adds his good wishes to me. I will not quote them, because in the light of modern events the punishments that might be inflicted on him and me do not bear thinking about.

I may say that the gentleman in question has a permanent grievance against the Department, because when he was made a private secretary he was held not to have a sufficient standing in the Civil Service hierarchy to warrant his being paid the usual allowance that is made to private secretaries. I ask the right hon. Gentleman just to examine what happened at that time, because it seems to me that if a man does the work he is entitled to the rate for the job, and even if he has not advanced sufficiently high in the scale of things within the Department he is all the more entitled to it when undertaking the difficult and delicate duties which Ministers know fall upon these gentlemen. I wish him the same kind of luck that he wished me in the letter which I have just quoted.

A few days later, I received a warrant for £202 from the Paymaster-General, which represented about fourteen years' accumulation of the pension at varying rates, which were all set out, with the proper amount of Income Tax correctly deducted. I now get £6 2s. 2d. every quarter, which is quite acceptable.

What oppressed me at the time and does now is that it is quite evident from the contents of that letter that there were a number of other people who had served in those far-off days when, before the days of the Burnham Committee, teachers' salaries were negotiated individually with separate authorities. I started in Surrey as a teacher on a scale of salary from £90 rising to £130 by £5 increases. I recollect that I determined that the first time that my cheque was more than £10 I would spend it all in one day to see what it really felt like to be wealthy.