76. Miss Rathboneasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the injustice felt by men who, having been accepted into the Civil Service, had volunteered, on the outbreak of war and been recruited into the Armed Forces before actually serving in the Civil Service and who, under Treasury Circular No. E.O.C. 391 now find that they will not be entitled to have their military service reckoned in the period ranking for pension on retirement, whereas those civil servants who waited to be called up as conscripts will have their military service so reckoned; and, to avoid placing the volunteer in a worse position than the conscript, will he reconsider this matter?
§ Captain CrookshankThis Circular provides that successful candidates in Civil Service examinations who were called up for the Armed Forces before taking up Civil Service duties will have posts kept open for them on their return, but the period in the Forces before commencement of civil employment does not earn civil pay or reckon for civil pension. I am satisfied that this rule, which was also applied in the last war, is a fair one; it is accepted by the representatives of the staff, and no general complaint has been made. The distinction is between civil servants and prospective civil servants, not between conscripts and volunteers.
Miss RathboneDoes the right hon. and gallant Gentleman recognise that it puts 824 men who volunteered at the outbreak of war in a worse position than the men who waited to be conscripted? Is that desirable?
§ Captain CrookshankAs I have just said, it has nothing to do with that question, but it is one as to whether the man was or was not a civil servant at the time.