§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the reasons for the delays in calculating the increases for the pensions of retired teachers; if he will take action to overcome this; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Chris PattenFollowing the 1985 teachers' pay settlement, the pensions and lump sums of some 16,000 teachers who retired between 1 April 1985 and March 1986 fall to be revised to take account of retrospective salary increases. The timing of the pay settlement has meant that the work of revising these awards has overlapped with the calculation of new awards for teachers retiring at the end of this summer term. Calculation of these new awards has to be given priority to ensure that payments can be made immediately they fall due.
More than 4,000 revisions have so far been completed. Every effort will be made to deal with the remainder as quickly as possible and it is expected that the exercise will be completed by the end of November.