§ Mr. BARCLAY-HARVEYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many ex-civil servants were drawing pensions in each of the years 1911, 1921 and 1931; and what was the total cost of such pensions in each of those years?
§ Major ELLIOTThe figures are as follow:
Year. Number of pensioners. Annual cost of pensions. £ 1911 22,490 2,378,815 1921 30,725 3,743,272 1931 44,476 5,680,667 Of the total increase of nearly 22,000 pensioners between 1911 and 1931, approximately 17,000 are ex-Post Office employ6s. The Superannuation Act, 1909, provided, in return for a reduction of the previous pension scale by one-fourth, for lump sum payments to established civil servants or, retirement ("additional allowances") or to their legal personal representatives on death. The expenditure incurred upon such payments in the above years was as follows:
285W
£ 1911 270,190 1921 2,570,687 1931 (estimated) 1,770,000 The sum of £285,000 is recoverable in the current year from the Governments of the Irish Free State and of Northern Ireland in respect of non-effective payments.