§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI bug to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether police pensioners who attend at New Scotland Yard for the purpose of drawing their pensions are frequently kept waiting from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.; whether, being paid by cheque, they have to then proceed to Burlington Gardens to cash their cheque, thereby losing a day's work and a day's pay; whether, in the event of payment being made by post, several days elapse before the pensioner receives his pension; and if he will state what payment is made to the widow of a pensioner who dies during the week preceding that in which his pension is due.
§ MR. GLADSTONEPensioners who attend personally are required to be present before 11 a.m., and payment is usually made about 2 p.m. I am looking into the matter to see whether some improvement cannot be effected in the present system so as to avoid delay. Payment is made to those attending personally by cheque, drawn on the Western Branch of the Bank of England; but every pensioner has the option of being paid through the post, in which event a money order is sent to him in almost all cases on the day following that on which his life certificate is received. Pensions are paid in advance, and consequently no further sum is payable in the event of death before the expiration of the period for which payment has been made. In some cases, however, where at the time of death a full year's pension has not been drawn, a gratuity is given to the widow.