TREASURY MINUTE. (DATED 14TH JUNE, 1859.) MY LORDS have under consideration the report of the Committee appointed under the Board Minute of the 20th May, 1859, upon the provisions of the Superannuation Act, 22nd Vict., cap. 26. My Lords approve of the Regulations proposed by the Committee for ascertaining the amount of retiring allowances to be granted to persons who may have entered the Civil Service previous to the passing of the Act, and whether before or after the 5th August, 1829, also for awarding compensation allowances for abolition of office. These Regulations are as follows: 1. As regards those who may have entered the Civil Service before 5th August, 1829: 1. That the maximum amount of the superannuation allowance for the quinquennial period, under the 4 and 5 Wm. IV., cap. 24, sec. 9, preceding that through which the applicant is passing be estimated. 2. That to that maximum there be added for each year, in excess of the preceding quinquennial period, of, equal to of the applicant's salary and emoluments. 3. That the applicant be considered entitled to this amount under ordinary circumstances. A larger amount may be awarded in cases of special merit, but within the maximum of the quinquennial period. A smaller amount may be awarded in cases of demerit. In either of these cases the claim to be submitted to the full Superannuation Committee, and a note to be made of the grounds of the decision. II. As regards those who may have entered the Service since 5th August, 1829: 1. That the maximum amount of the superannuation allowance for the septennial period under the 4 & 5 Wm. IV., cap. 24, sec. 10, preceding that through which the applicant is passing, be estimated. 2. That to that maximum there be added each year in excess of the preceding septennial period of equal to of the applicant's salary and emoluments. 3. As in the former cases, the applicants shall be considered entitled to this amount under ordinary circumstances. A larger amount may be awarded in cases of special merit, but within the maximum of the septennial period. A smaller amount may be awarded in cases of demerit. In either of these cases the claims shall be submitted to the full Superannuation Committee, and a note be made of the grounds of the decision. 4. When a higher rate of superannuation would accrue under the 22 Vict., cap. 26. that higher rate should be allowed. III. That in no case shall any fractional part of a year be allowed. With regard to persons appointed, or to be appointed, subsequently to the passing of the Act 22 Vict., my Lords observe that the language of the Act is precise, and that such persons are to be held entitled to the retiring allow. ances prescribed by the 2nd section of the Act, provided they fulfil the conditions of the 17th section, and provided my Lords do not find it necessary to exercise the power conferred on them by the 9th section, "of reducing the allowance on account of the demerits of the person claiming it. The parties entitled to be considered Civil Servants under the 17th clause are accurately stated in the Report of the Committee as follows, viz. :— 1. Persons hereafter to be appointed : : A. Those holding appointments directly from the Crown. B. Those admitted into the Civil Service with a certificate from the II. Persons appointed to office before 19th April, 1859, the date of the passing of the Superannuation Act of 1859: A. Those belonging to a class already entitled to superannuation allow ance. B. Those holding appointments directly from the Crown. C. Those admitted into the Civil Service with a certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners, or belonging to a class which is hereafter to be admitted. MEMORANDUM. The Lords of the Treasury have announced that their Lordships will grant the following to gentlemen who may retire for the purpose of facilitating the reconstruction of the several Departments in the Customs Service, provided they are of exemplary character and fully competent to continue in the discharge of their duties, and subject to the condition inserted at the end of this memorandum : :- 1. To officers who entered the Service before the 5th August, 1829:The maximum pension laid down in the 9th section of the Act 4th and 5th William IV., cap. 24, with an addition of of the salary for each complete year of service since entering that period. For example.-An officer after 42 years' service might receive a pension equal plus of his salary. 2. To officers who entered the Service on and after the 5th August, 1829, their Lordships usually allow an addition of years to the actual period of service in accordance with the following scale : Between 1 and 5 years' service, 1 year is added. 3 years are added. provided that the limit 3rds of the salary is not exceeded but in the present instance their Lordships will be prepared, when the service exceeds 30 years, to consider each case separately with the view to the grant of an allowance in excess of the limit of 3rds of the salary, should the merits of the case appear to justify such a course; it is, however, expected that the allowance will not exceed 3ths of the salary. The grant of the full addition of years is, moreover, subject to the condition that the age of the officer at the date of his retirement does not exceed 55 years, the number of years added being smaller in proportion as the age of the officer exceeds that limit. THE COMMUTATION OF PENSIONS. THE privilege of commuting Government pensions was first confined to the Army and Navy, and the Administrative officers of the Services. The great changes introduced into the public departments by the Gladstone Government having, however, had the effect of superannuating, on very small allowances, a large number of young men, attention was seriously directed to the subject. Mr. Monk, the Member for Gloucester, endeavoured to induce the Chancellor of the Exchequer to permit these ex-officials to dispose of their pensions to the Government for a capital sum, which would enable them to enter upon some fresh pursuit in life; but the privilege was absolutely refused, and it was not until Mr. Monk stated his determination to press the subject upon the attention of the House of Commons and "THE CIVILIAN " newspaper demonstrated that the sought-for boon would be positively a source of profit to the taxpayers, that Mr. Lowe gave way, and had a general Act passed on the subject. Exofficials desirous of commuting their pensions must, in the first instance, communicate with the heads of their late department, who will supply forms analogous to those used by life insurance offices in the case of persons desirous of effecting assurances, and who, on receiving these forms daly filled up, will report, confidentially, to the Lords of the Treasury, stating all necessary facts as to the health of the applicants, and any other circumstances it is desirable should be known. Their Lordships will then forward the papers to the Commissioners for the National Debt, who will have the person proposing to commute examined by an official medical man, and afterwards report the whole facts to the Lords of the Treasury, who will finally decide upon the application. The Act does not apply to those who leave the Service through ill-health or old age. Civil Servants resident in the Colonies or Dependencies are not permitted to commute their pensions unless they appear personally in London and submit to an examination by the Medical Officer of the Commutation Board. We append hereto the full text of the Pensions Commutation Act, 1871, and the official table on which the commutations are effected. An Act to extend the provisions of the Pensions Commutation Acts, 1868 and 1870, to certain Public Civil Officers, and to consolidate and amend the said Acts. [29th June, 1871.] Be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the "Pensions Commutation Act, 1871." 2. In this Act : The term "The Treasury" means the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury for the time being, or any two or more of them: 66 The term 'pension" includes any half-pay, compensation allowance, superannuation or retirement allowance, or other payment of the like nature: The term officer" means commissioned officer and warrant officer in the Army and Navy, and subordinate officer in the Navy : The term "public civil office means any officer other than that of an officer in Her Majesty's naval or land forces, the holder of which is paid his remuneration out of moneys provided by Parliament for supply services. 3. This Act shall apply only (1) To officers in Her Majesty's Naval or land forces; and (2) To persons who have retired or have been removed from public civil offices in consequence of the abolition of their offices or for the purpose of facilitating improvements in the organisation of the departments to which they belonged, and to whom annual pensions have been granted by way of compensation for such retirement or removal. 4. It shall be lawful for the Treasury, in accordance with such regulations as they may from time to time make, on the application of any person to whom this Act applies, to commute his pension by the payment of a capital sum of money, calculated according to the estimated duration of the life of the pension-holder, subject to the following provisions : (1) In calculating the amount payable in respect of the commutation of any pension, the following rules shall be observed :— (a) The age of the pension-holder shall be reckoned at the age he will attain on the birthday next succeeding his application for commutation. (b) In the case of impaired lives, years shall be added to the age of the pension-holder for the purpose of calculating the amount of commutation payable to him; and in like manner a deduction from age shall be made as an equivalent for the right for prospective increase of the pension to be commuted; (c) In calculating the amount payable in respect of any pension, interest shall be reckoned at a rate of not less than five pounds per centum per annum. (2) Where any officer in the naval or land forces of Her Majesty whose pension has been commuted under this Act subsequently marries, his widow shall not be entitled to any pension, and a child of any such officer born after the date of the commutation of his pension shall not be entitled to compassionate allowance. (3) Save as aforesaid, nothing in this Act contained shall be held to deprive the wife or children of any officer whose pension may be commuted of any reversionary right to pension or compassionate allowance to which she or they may be entitled. No application for the commutation of a pension shall be received unless it be accompanied, in the case of an officer who has belonged to Her Majesty's naval forces, by a recommendation from the Admiralty, and in the case of an officer who has belonged to Her Majesty's land forces, by a recommendation from the War Office, and in the case of any other person, by a recommendation from the head of the department to which the applicant belongs, unless the Treasury otherwise direct. 5. There shall be constituted for the purpose of advising on the cases of applicants for commutation of pensions under this Act a Board, in this Act called "the Commutation Board." The Commutation Board shall consist of the Comptroller-General for the time being of the National Debt Office, and of four other persons to be from time to time appointed by the Treasury. The Treasury may from time to time appoint and remove an Actuary, medical referees, and such other officers or servants as they may consider necessary, and may pay them such remuneration as they may think fit. The Commutation Board shall inquire into and report to the Treasury upon the cases of applicants for commutation under this Act in such manner as the Treasury directs. 6. The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, with the consent of the Treasury, may pay the amounts awarded as commutations of pensions out of any funds for the time being in their hands under the authority of the Act of the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter fourteen, and the Act of the Session of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh years of the same reign, chapter eighty-seven, or either of such Acts. 7. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Treasury may from time to time make, alter, or revoke regulations as to the following matters : (1) The rules according to which applications for commutations are to (3) The terms upon which pensions are to be commuted, and the cases in which the commutation is to be refused. 8. An account shall be made up annually of the amount paid by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt for the commutation of pensions under this Act, and a terminable annuity shall be annually paid, out of the votes of Parliament upon which the respective pensions were chargeable previous to commutation, to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, of an amount sufficient to repay to the said Commissioners, at the expiration of ten years, the amount advanced by them, together with interest thereon at a rate of not less than three and a half per centum per annum, and the amount of the annuity payable in respect of the commutation of pensions shall be notified by a certificate under the hand of the Actuary of the National Debt Office, in the case of an officer in the naval forces to the Admiralty, and in the case of an officer in the land forces to the War Office, and in the case of any other person to the head of the department to which the person belonged whose pension has been so commuted, or to such other person as may be directed by the Treasury. 9. If any applicant for commutation under this Act wilfully make any false declaration in relation to any matter or thing required by any regulation made in pursuance of this Act, he shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be liable on conviction to forfeit all claim to his pension or the value thereof, and to be imprisoned for any period not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour. 10. If any pension-holder whose pension has been commuted in pursuance of this Act accepts any public employment, a deduction shall be made from the salary payable to him in respect of such employment equal to the amount which would have been abated from the pension if it had not been commuted; and in the event of his becoming entitled to a pension in respect of such employment, the amount of such pension granted to him shall not exceed the amount which he might have received had his pension not been so commuted. 11. If at any time it appear desirable to the Treasury and to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, having regard to the funds out of which the said Commissioners are authorised by this Act to pay the amounts awarded as commutations of pensions, that an issue in money should be made out of the Consolidated Fund in repayment of advances made from such funds, the Treasury may, upon a certificate to that effect under the hands of the Comptroller-General, or Assistant-Comptroller, acting under the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, issue to the said Commissioners out of the Consolidated Fund, or the growing produce thereof, such a sum as may be named in such certificate. 12. When an issue has been made as aforesaid out of the Consolidated Fund in repayment of advances made by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt under this Act, the Actuary of the National Debt Office shall certify to the said Commissioners the annual amount which should be applied for a term of years to be fixed by the Commissioners with the assent of the Treasury, as the equivalent value of the amount so repaid to the said Commissioners, and the said Commissioners shall annually apply the amount so certified for the fixed term of years, out of the moneys to be paid to them from year to year in respect of commutations of pensions under this Act, to the purchase and cancelling of perpetual or other annuities, exchequer bills, bonds, bank advances, or other descriptions of debt chargeable upon the Consolidated Fund, and the said Actuary shall take the rate of interest at which the annual payments are to be made to the said Commissioners under this Act as the basis upon which the amount of the annual payments so to be applied are to be valued. |