Pension Supplements (Hansard, 28 March 1956)

§ 12. Dame Irene Ward
asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will report on his talks with the Chairman of the British Transport Commission on the question of pensions for railway superannuitants.

§ 21. Mr. H. Hynd
asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will now make a statement about adjustment of railway superannuation payments to meet the increased cost of living.

§ 22. Mr. Fenner Brockway
asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will now make a statement regarding increased pensions for retired railwaymen.

§ Mr. Watkinson
The Commission proposes to introduce, with effect from 1st April, 1956, a further scheme of pension supplements which will apply to a large number of pensioners who are outside the scope of the existing scheme. It will be limited to those who are not entitled to benefit under the State insurance scheme and will extend only to cases in which the pension plus supplement will not exceed £250 a year. The maximum amount of supplement, for those who have been retired a number of years, will be £28 a year, but pensioners who are already getting a larger supplement under the existing scheme will continue to receive it.
With permission, I will circulate the full details in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

§ Dame Irene Ward
May I ask my right hon. Friend to accept my thanks for this propressive step? Will he convey to Sir Brian Robertson the appreciation of many people for recognising the needs of old railway servants who have helped to build up the grandeur of British Railways? May I ask my right hon. Friend to accept my assurance that I like Ministers who are not frightened of creating precedents and that I am bored with Ministers who are made static by precedents?

§ Mr. Speaker
Mr. Brockway.

§ Mr. Collick
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member for Eton and Slough (Mr. Fenner Brockway) had a Question on the Order Paper which the Minister has just answered, and he is entitled to be heard first.

§ Mr. Brockway
I thank the Minister for his reply, but I did not hear the date when the new pensions are to come into operation. Would he consider backdating them to the time when pension increases were made for other public servants? Would he also consider 2140 whether the cost of the pensions could be borne by the Treasury rather than the Transport Commission, which already has such a heavy burden?

§ Mr. Watkinson
The date is 1st April. This is a quite proper burden for the Commission to carry. In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Tynemouth (Dame Irene Ward), I would say that both the Commission and I have tried very hard about this scheme. I say frankly that we would have liked to have done more, but at least we have tried to do something for the people who are worst off.

§ Mr. H. Hynd
Does the scheme mean that all railway pensioners will be brought up to a minimum of £250 a year, and does it apply to the widows of pensioners?

§ Mr. Watkinson
The answer to the first part of that supplementary question is "No"; but the scheme takes no account of other sources of income; there is no means test. It takes no account of whether an annuitant is married or single, and there is no lump sum benefit deduction, as there was under the previous scheme.

§ Mr. Collick
Am I right in understanding the Minister's statement to mean that in effect practically none of the ex-wages staff of the railway will receive any benefit from the announcement that he has made?

§ Mr. Watkinson
That is partly true, but not completely so.