§ Mr. SarwarTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants over the age of 60 years employed by the Contributions Agency have been required to retire following its transfer from the Benefits Agency to the Inland Revenue; and at which centres they were based. [121322]
§ Dawn PrimaroloPrior to the transfer of the staff and functions of the former Contributions Agency (CA) to the Inland Revenue on 1 April 1999, the CA operated a normal retirement age of 60 for all staff. As part of the transitional arrangements on moving over to this policy, extensions of service had been agreed for some staff, up to a maximum retention date of 31 July 1999.
As part of the terms and conditions package negotiated with the relevant trade unions and accepted by CA staff by way of ballot, the Revenue undertook to honour any extensions of service agreed by 31 March 1999. Thus, post transfer, any individual who had been granted an extension by that date was retained by the Revenue until the expiry of that period.
263WAs was the case for CA, the Revenue also operated a normal retirement age of 60. The agreed terms of the negotiated package provided that, after transfer, former CA staff would be retired in line with the Revenue retirement age policy, subject to the commitment on extensions of service granted prior to 31 March 1999.
Since the transfer on 1 April 1999, the following numbers of former CA staff have been required to retire.
Location Normal retirement at age 60 Retirements over age 60 Total number of retirees BMSD 1 0 1 IR East 2 7 9 IR London 3 18 21 IR North West 1 4 5 IR Scotland 0 1 1 IR South West 2 4 6 IR South East 1 2 3 IR South Yorkshire 0 1 1 IR Wales and Midlands 1 2 3 LBO 1 0 1 NICO (Newcastle upon Tyne) 17 51 68 IR North 1 1 2 Totals 30 91 121
Marginal deduction rate (per cent.) Illustrative examples 40 to less than 50 Basic rate taxpayer on Council Tax Benefit taper 50 to less than 60 Non-taxpayer on WFTC taper 60 to less than 70 Basic rate taxpayer on WFTC taper 70 to less than 80 Basic rate taxpayer on Council Tax Benefit and WFTC tapers 80 to less than 90 Basic rate taxpayer on Housing Benefit and WFTC tapers 90 to less than 100 Basic rate taxpayer on Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and WFTC tapers