§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 2 May,Official Report, column 121, if he will provide comparable details on civil service early retirement packages on grounds of inefficiency. [29297]
§ Mr. Howard[holding answer 19 June 1995]: Inefficiency is a ground for dismissal. Accrued superannuation benefits, which vary for individual members of staff, would normally be preserved for payment at retiring age. Departments may, however, make an immediate lump sum payment of up to two years' salary in cases where compensation is thought to be appropriate; in the case of persons aged over 55, this may be forgone in favour of immediate payment of accrued superannuation benefits. We have no record in the Home Office, excluding agencies, of any compensation payments being made, or of the alternative immediate payment of accrued superannuation benefits, in recent years.