CO885-(18-19) — Page 353

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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16. The Act itself should. however, provide for the safeguarding of accrued pension rights in the case of transferred officers, in the manner indicated in the following paragraphs, and should also provide that where the whole service exceeds ten years, ie, is of sufficient duration to qualify for pension, instead of gratuity, peusion may be given for parts of the whole service which do not by themselves amount to ten years (as in Rule V. under the 1892 Act).

17. We consider it desirable that the Act should provide explicitly that in the case of transfer of an officer of the Imperial Civil Service to the service of the Indian or any Colonial Government he shall not by his transfer forfeit his ultimate right to a pension in respect of his previous service, at the same rate as if he had retired on ill health at the date of his transfer, provided that he ultimately retires (a) under circumstances which would entitle him to pension if such retirement had been from the Imperial service, or (b) after one term as a Governor (see paragraph 52 below), or (c) at an age at which voluntary retirement is allowed in the service in which he is last employed.

1. On the other hand we are of opinion that an officer who is transferred from a service in which the retiring age is less than that of his new service should forfeit his right to retire at such lower age.

19. We consider, also, that there are two other cases in which pension rights already accrued should be safeguarded, namely, transfers to non-pensionable appoint- ments and transfers to employment in a foreign country.

20. The case of transfer to a non-pensionable appointment under the Crown is already provided for in section 12 of the Superannuation Act of 1859, but our pro- posal in regard to the pensions of Colonial Governors will, if adopted, in any case necessitate the repeal of the latter part of the section, and, as we are of opinion that the former part is open to objection, we recommend that the whole section should be repealed and the necessary provision made in the new Act.

21. The section in question provides that every officer "transferred from em- ployment entitling him to superannuation allowance to public employment under the Crown not so entitling him shall be entitled on his ultimate retirement from the public service to the same allowance as if he had continued to hold the vacated appointment and at the same rate of salary as when the same was vacated"; that is to say, it not only safeguards the rights to pension already accrued but also requires that a further pension shall be granted in respect of the non-pensionable employment based on the officer's final salary in the pensionable office. While we have no desire to suggest that in no case should pension be granted in respect of the non-pensionable service, we consider the obligatory character of the section undesirable, as the salaries of the non-pensionable offices are usually fixed with due regard for the fact that they are not intended to carry pension rights.

22. We recommend, therefore, that the necessary section in the new Act should, while safeguarding rights accrued at the date of transfer, contain only a permissive provision as to pension in respect of the subsequent service. It might be well to provide that the pension could be granted without the officer's being qualified for pension by reason of age or ill-health.

23. Section 12 of the Act of 1859 has, however, no bearing on the case of transfers to public employment in a foreign country, and we consider that it is desirable to provide for the retention of pension rights already accrued in cases where such transfers are made for public reasons. It would, of course, he necessary to lay down conditions governing the issue of pension in such cases and to leave a con- siderable discretion in the hands of His Majesty's Government. For this purpose we recommend :-

(a) that the transfer must be declared at the time by the Secretary of State to be for the public benefit and such as would justify the retention of pension rights already accrued.

(b) that the grant of pension should be deferred until the officer attains the age, or fulfils the conditions, which if he had remained in the Imperial service, would have qualified him for the grant of a pension, and

(c) that it should be within the discretion of the Secretary of State to recom-

mend that the pension should, or should not, be granted.

24. Two matters have come to our notice which may conveniently be referred to

in this section of the Report, although they do not relate immediately to the subject

of pensions for service under more than one Government.

25. The first point is that of deductions from pensionable service in respect of absence from duty. The practice in this matter varies greatly in different services.

For example, the ordinary practice in the Colonies is to deduct from the total service the half of any period of leave of absence on half salary. Governors are permitted to count as pensionable administration all periods of absence not exceeding one-sixth of their resident administration, or, in the case of service in an unhealthy climate, one quarter of their resident administration; and a similar arrangement exists in the Indian Civil Service, in which the period of service qualifying for maximum annuity is 25 years, of which 21 years must have been active service in India. In the case of pensions in the Imperial Service, no deduction is made unless the sick leave taken during the last four years exceeds one year, in which case the amount of the excess is deducted. In view of the divergence of practice, we do not make any recommen- dation on the subject, which may be left for the decision of the responsible Department.

26. Secondly, we have observed that in certain Colonies a limit of £1,000 a year has been fixed as the maximum pension which may be granted, and we have considered whether a limit of this kind, in addition to the ordinary maximum of two-thirds of the final salary, should be adopted generally. We do not think, however, that there is sufficient reason for making a general rule, and, if it is thought desirable to limit .the rate of pension for which an officer may qualify in respect of a post which for local reasons carries a large salary, we should prefer that it should be done by adopting as far as possible a uniform scale of salary for appointments of the same class, with the addition of suitable non-pensionable allowances in compensation for local disadvantages or expense.

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II. Additions for Unhealthy Climate.

We have taken into our consideration the various methods which have been adopted in regard to additions to pension in respect of unhealthy climate. These are:-

(1) The method of the Act of 1876, by which two years' service is counted as three years for pension purposes, but the minimum service qualifying for pension (as distinct from gratuity) is retained at ten years' actual service, as in the Act of 1859. This arrangement has been applied to officers in the Imperial service employed in the places specified in List A in Appendix F, and to Protectorate officers serving in the Pro- tectorates in Eastern Africa lately administered by the Foreign Office, where, however, the age for voluntary retirement is 50 as against 60 elsewhere. It is also applicable under certain circumstances to Governors or other Imperial officers employed in the Colonies and Protectorates specified in List B in Appendix F, but not to Colonial officers serving in such places.

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(2) The method adopted in the West African Colonies and Protectorates, by which pensions are calculated in fortieths instead of sixtieths of annual salary. The age for voluntary retirement is 50, and seven years' service qualifies for pension on medical certificate.

(3) The method in force in many other tropical Colonies, by which an addition of five years is made to an officer's service in computing his pension, provided that he has already completed ten years' service. The origin of this practice is shown in an Appendix to our Report. (Appendix C.) In these Colonies the retiring age is generally 55.

We may observe that in India, although service in that country has never been recognised as service in an unhealthy climate, a similar principle enters into the pension rules applicable to civil officers other than members of the Indian Civil Service. The effect of this system is shown in an Appendix. (Appendix D.)

29. Apart from the age of voluntary retirement and the minimum service quali- fying for pension, the effect of the first two systems is the same, with the exception of slight differences in respect of broken parts of a year's service; but if the Act of 1876 is amended we recommend that the principle of basing pensions upon fortieths should be substituted for that of counting two years as three.

30. Similarly, in unhealthy Colonies outside tropical Africa, we recommend that the Colonial rules should be modified so as to base pensions on fiftieths instead of