§ At the end of paragraph eleven of the First Schedule to the Police Act, 1890, there shall be inserted the words "so, however, that the pension shall not be less than if the constable had continued in his former rank.—[Mr. Shortt.]
§ Brought up, and read the first time.
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Shortt)I beg to move
That the Clause be read a second time.This is a small matter, but it provides for what may be a case of hardship. It deals with the case of a sergeant who may retire within the next two or three years, and who happens to have been promoted within three years of his retirement. In the case of a sergeant when he retires his pension is reckoned on the average of the three years before he retires, while in the case of a constable when he retires his pension is calculated upon the actual pay he was receiving when he retired. The result would be that if a man was promoted to sergeant to-day and he had to retire next year his pension would be reckoned upon his three years' pay, which would be two years at the old rate of pay as a constable and one year at the new rate of pay as a sergeant, and the average of that would be very much less than the constable would get who retires upon his full increased pay if this Bill passes. Therefore, we want to provide that if a constable is promoted in the immediate future and has to retire, say within a couple of years, he shall not lose, but he will get the full pay that he would have got if his pension had been reckoned upon his full pay instead of on the average for three years. This is a small matter, but it may meet a hardship.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Clause accordingly read a second time, and added to the Bill.