§ Commander Purseyasked the Minister of Defence if he will issue a White Paper showing all the long-service pension schemes now in force for other ranks in the three defence Services, with the details of actual payments and, in particular, the minimum pensions now being paid to able-seamen, privates and aircraftmen, all the pension schemes for the widows of other ranks of the three defence Services, and, in particular, the minimum pensions now being paid to widows.
Admiralty War Office Air Ministry Total Numbers … … 18 42 13 73 £ £ £ £ Typical average annual cost … … 14,750 34,750 11,300 60,800 It should be noted that there is no pension office, separately established as such, in the Admiralty or Air Ministry. The figures above are the numbers employed on the assessment, authorisation and commutation of other rank pensions, costed on the basis of typical salaries.
There would be no saving if there was one pension rate for each grade for the same period of pensionable service irrespective of the date of discharge. On the contrary such a change of policy would result in increased work and increased costs, owing to the larger number of pensioners whose pensions award would need to be reviewed whenever the code was changed in future.