SCHOOL TEACHERS (SUPERANNUATION) BILL. (Hansard, 25 July 1922)

§ THE EARL OF CLARENDON

My Lords, this is a Bill to make contributory the non-contributory scheme set up by the Act of 1918. That Act, as your Lordships are probably aware, superseded the Act of 1898. It set up a new system of superannuation by which the teachers got their pensions on terms almost the same as applied in the Civil Service of this country. Let me give your Lordships an example. A teacher on retirement at the age of 60, or on disablement at an earlier age, received a pension equal to one-eightieth of his salary for each year of his service, and in addition to that he received a capital payment of one-thirtieth of his salary for each year of service. Provision was also made in respect of those who died in the teaching service. There is a fairly large distinction between the teachers and civil servants in this respect. Civil servants, in qualifying for pensions, are obliged to show that they have been in continuous service from the age of entry up to the age of sixty or sixty-five, whereas a teacher can go in and out of the teaching profession, and has to show, in order to qualify for the pension, service of thirty 778 years in the aggregate, and in some cases the period required is less.

When the Act of 1918 was passed the average salary of teachers engaged in the elementary schools was £104. I am afraid that we have not got the figures of the average salaries of the teachers engaged in the secondary schools. Since 1918, as your Lordships are aware, the Burnham Committee has sat and reported, and its conclusions have been accepted, generally speaking, by the bulk of local education authorities. When the Burnham scales have their full effect the average salary of the teachers in the elementary school will amount to £261 per annum. To-day, it is about £250. Shortly after the Burnham Committee had sat and deliberated the Government was face to face with this position. There was an urgent need for reducing expenditure to the lowest possible limit, and when the remuneration of most classes of employed people was falling very rapidly, the position, so far as teachers were concerned, was that their salaries had been multiplied two and a-half times during four years, and this increase carried, as a necessary consequence, that the value of their pension rights was also substantially increased; in other words, the more salary they earned whilst serving, and therefore the greater their ability to provide for old age, the greater their pension.

It seemed that the case had been made out for calling upon the teachers to make some sort of contribution towards the compensation which they were ultimately to receive, and the case was strengthened still further by the position which teachers occupied in regard to salaries as compared with other classes of the community. When this Bill was introduced in the House 779 of Commons it was argued that it was a breach of a pledge which had been given by the Government, or by Parliament. The argument was that the Burnham scale was settled by agreement, and that that settlement carried with it an implied, if not an express, undertaking that the scheme would not be altered. As your Lordships are aware, a Select Committee was appointed to look into this whole question, and the result was that this Committee reported that there was neither an express nor an implied pledge. The way, therefore, was clear for the Bill.

Now, I will very briefly turn to the Bill itself. Clause 1 provides, with certain exceptions, for a uniform contribution of 5 per cent, on the salary towards the cost of providing benefits, and also for the collection of contributions. There is a special consideration for those who do not enjoy the full benefits of the Burnham scale. By the Bill relief is given to those who, after paying contributions, will not have received a sum equal to four-fifths of what they would have been entitled to under the Burnham scale. We start with the assumption that a teacher receiving 80 per cent. of the Burnham scale is able to make some contribution, and if there is any teacher who has not received any increase and is not protected by this provision, it is not because he cannot afford to contribute but because, in comparison with others, he was well paid in 1918. As a matter of fact, there are some teachers who are still being paid on the provisional minimum scale and who are better off than they were in 1918.

Clause 2 deals with exemptions from contribution and the repayment of contributions. The general principle of that clause is that anyone who can show that owing to the shortness of his service he cannot acquire an allowance at the age of sixty-five, is entitled to exemption from contributions, and if he fails to get the benefit such contributions as he may have paid are returned to him. There is also a special provision whereby women engaged in the teaching profession who intend to marry, and desire to leave the teaching profession, can also get their contributions returned.

Clause 3 deals with the position of those entitled to benefits under the Act of 1898, or of a local pension scheme, when the Act of 1918 was passed. These persons surrendered those benefits in consideration of getting benefits under the Act of 1918, and 780 it is important, in view of the fact that it is now proposed to make that Act contributory, that these people should not suffer. Therefore, if they find that they are in a worse position than they would have been before the Act of 1918 was passed, they are entitled to compensation, and so far as this clause of the Bill is concerned the Government have to act upon the report of the Government Actuary, which report, if so desired by the teacher, can be communicated to him.

Clause 4 establishes two principles. The first is that the salary upon which contributions are paid shall be the salary upon which the pensions are awarded. The second is that both for the purpose of contribution and award of pensions the Board of Education may disregard salaries which appear to them to be excessive. By "excessive" is meant salaries in excess of the Burnham scale as modified by the Board of Education. There is one exception to the first principle, and that is that where a teacher is on sick leave he pays his contribution on his reduced pay, whereas his pension is calculated on his full pay. The Bill is purely a temporary measure which will come to an end on May 31, 1924. In the meantime, that is to say, between now and the date which I have just mentioned, a Committee is to be set up to look into the whole, question, with a view of devising some permanent scheme. The present Bill is designed to bridge over the interval until the Committee is able to report and its conclusions can be considered. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.