§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the weekly level of public service pension below which the application of the current incomes policy to public service pensions would not reduce the pension increase due to take place on 1st December; and if he will estimate the number of public service pensioners whose pensions are above and below this level.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisI regret that the figures for all the public services are not readily available. However, for the Civil Service, a weekly pension of £28.99 is the highest that could be increased by 13.8 per cent. without the cash increase exceeding £4.
Approximately 36,500 former civil servants and their dependants receive more than this at present, and approximately 256,000 receive less.
§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the saving to public funds in a full year of applying the current incomes policy to public sector pensions.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisI regret that exact figures for all the public services are not available. However, the information for the Civil Service is as follows: The cost of increasing Civil Service pensions on 1st December by 13.8 per cent. is estimated at £31 million for a full year. If the present pay policy including the £2.50 minimum, were to be strictly applied to Civil Service pension increases, the cost in the same period 325W would be £39 million. Thus there would be no saving to public funds, but an extra cost of £8 million. This is because a 13.8 per cent. increase will mean less than £2.50 for some 220,000 of the 293,000 in receipt of Civil Service pensions. It is reasonable to assume that the rest of the public services would follow a similar pattern.