§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide figures for each prison, 176W has been given to compensating them for the loss of pension entitlement which they would have earned if permitted to continue their career to age 65 years.
§ Mr. ButlerThe decision to retire Northern Ireland civil servants of staff officer rank and above at 60 was announced in a circular issued on 19 November 1982. Failing such action, a major age imbalance, coupled with the reduction in Civil Service manpower, would have led to a serious drop in promotion opportunities over the next 15 years.
Since civil servants may retire voluntarily at any time after they attain the age of 60 it is not possible to say how many were affected by the decision nor therefore how many of them were ex-service men, or how many would have had less than full pension entitlement.
As the retirement age had always previously been 60 and retention beyond that age had been discretionary, no civil servant was eligible for compensation for loss of pension which might have been earned by working to 65. No officer who remains fit and efficient will be compulsorily retired at 60, however, unless he has at least 20 years service reckonable for pension.