§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff(a) volunteered and (b) were accepted for early retirement in his Department in 1994–95 and 1995–96; what will be the cost of such early retirement to public funds, and if he will indicate the grades and size of lump sum payments being made by grade and service length. [17313]
§ Mr. NelsonSince 1 April 1994, 20 staff volunteered for early retirement, and 20 were accepted. In addition, 12 staff were granted early retirements on grounds of ill-health, and there were 12 other approved early retirements.
The total estimated cost to public funds—including lump sum redundancy compensation payment, enhancement of pension lump sum payments and payment of annual compensation up to age 60 will be £4,493,410. This figure may be a slight underestimate since calculations for those whose retirement date is not yet known—but which is likely to be in 1995–96—have been done on the basis of a retirement date of 31 March 95.
Information about lump sum payments in 1994–95 and 1995–96 by grade is as follows:
Number of staff Grade 1994–95 1995–96 Range of payments1 £ Range of service length (years) 2–3 2 5 86,016 to 137,086 23–33 4–5 3 8 47,665 to 90,984 16–39 6–7 5 2 24,147 to 59,225 10–36 SEO-EO 7 0 17,656 to 38,926 22–40 AO/AA/PS 6 0 2,189 to 23,861 3–34 SGB/SM/Typ 6 0 4,283 to 27,627 6–33 1Figures include both lump sum compensation and superannuation lump sum, where appropriate.