HC Deb 25 June 1974 vol 875 cc1186-8
7. Mr. Bates

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement about the date of operation for the reduced level of teachers' superannuation payments.

18. Mr. Mather

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made in arriving at satisfactory arrangements to enable teachers' contributions to their superannuation scheme to be reduced from 6.75 per cent. to 6 per cent.; and if he will make a statement.

23. Sir G. Sinclair

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made in arriving at satisfactory arrangements for teachers who entered the service after the war to count their war service, subject to payment of appropriate contributions as to half, for pension purposes; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Prentice

The Government have decided that the operative date of the reduction of the teachers' contribution to 6 per cent. should be 1st December 1973. The question of war service is complex and will be discussed tomorrow at a meeting of the Working Party on Teachers' Superannuation.

Mr. Bates

I thank my right hon. Friend for the concession, though it seems to be somewhat limited. Will he explain what is so special about the date of 1st December 1973? Why did he choose it? Were not the teachers paying the 6¾ per cent. rate from 1972 until the actuarial review showed that the scheme was making a profit, and would not 1972 be a better date from which to operate the reduction?

Mr. Prentice

The date is a compromise between the date suggested by the teachers' unions and the date offered by the last Government. The significance of 1st December is that it is the closest convenient date to 28th November, which was the date on which the House of Commons reversed policy on the matter. As to whether the reduction should have been backdated further, that aspect of the question, along with several other matters that have not been decided, has repercussions for other aspects of public service superannuation, which is why it has taken so long and why it has been so difficult to reach an agreed answer on these detailed points.

Sir G. Sinclair

Will the Secretary of State treat the matter of war service counting for pension as urgent? These people were absent on urgent national business, and everyone would like to see them properly treated with their education pensions. Will the Secretary of State get the matter decided quickly and come up with an answer before the Summer Recess?

Mr. Prentice

I hope that it will be decided quickly. There have been difficult and tiresome delays which I regret as much as anyone. On the general principle, the policy was changed in favour of the teachers on the initiative of the Labour Opposition in the motion they put down and which the House carried on 28th November 1973.

Mr. Freud

In view of the Government's avowed faith in retrospective legislation, will the Secretary of State consider backdating the reduced level of teachers' superannuation payments to the date when they found that the Government were making a great deal of money out of the teachers' contributions?

Mr. Prentice

I believe that I covered that point in an earlier reply. We con sidered the matter and there were difficulties which I have described. The date I have now announced is an improvement on two successive alternative dates put forward by the Conservative Government.