§ Lieut.-Colonel Heneageasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will give the amount not claimed each year for the last 10 years by Army officers on the retired list by their failure to comply with the time limit within which they can claim their pensions; and can he show separately the amounts where officers never claim their pensions and the amounts lost by officers owing to failure to claim within the statutory time but who subsequently make claims?
§ Mr. Hore-Belisha:The amounts disallowed in the first instance owing to failure to claim retired pay within the time limit of 12 months are as follows:
Year ended 31st March. Number of cases. Amount.£ 1937 20 1,240 1936 17 900 1935 8 260 1934 15 440 1933 12 660 1932 23 1,130 1931 15 1,080 1930 16 910 1929 14 640 1928 10 520 The information asked for in the second part of the question could not be ascertained without a disproportionate expenditure of time and labour. It should be observed that retired pay not claimed within the stipulated time is not necessarily forfeited. All applications are considered individually, and claims are allowed when acceptable reasons are given for the failure to claim within the regulated period.