Page 39 - Group Insurance and Retirement Benefit IC 83 E- Book

(i) The Superannuation Act, 1834, provided pensions on retirement on grounds of full age

(65) or earlier incapacity; benefits were based on the ' annual salary ' at retirement, i.e. the
then-operative rate, or the average over the last three years of service if there had been a

promotion within this period. For entrants before 1829, the scale provided a pension at
the full 'annual salary ' after 50 years' service.

For entrants after 1829, the scale was reduced—10 years' service secured a pension of
3/12 of the 'annual salary', rising by 1/12 for each further 7 years to a maximum of two-

thirds after 45 years' service.

(ii) The Superannuation Act, 1859, revised the scale to that which became standard for all
schemes providing a 'pension only' benefit, viz., at the rate of 1/60 of 'annual salary' per

completed year of established service, subject to a maximum of two-thirds, and with a

qualifying period of 10 years. The optional retiring age was reduced to 60, at which it has
since remained. Provision was made for a permissive short-service gratuity in the event

of enforced retirement before qualifying for pension.
(iii) The Superannuation Act, 1909, introduced, for male officers only, the scale which

became standard for schemes providing a ' pension plus lump sum 'benefit, viz., subject
to a qualifying period of 10 years, a pension at the rate of 1/80 per completed year,

maximum 40/80, and a lump sum on retirement at the rate of 1/30 per completed year,

maximum 45/30; all related to 'annual salary '. Each completed year of service after age
65 entailed a 5 % reduction in the lump sum.

The Development of Public Superannuation Schemes 11 This Act also introduced a death
benefit, subject to five years' qualifying service, of one year's ' annual salary ', with

provision to secure that a pensioner's estate was not worse off by his retirement than it
would have been had he died on his last day of service.

(Under the Superannuation Act, 1914, the death benefit was increased to the lump sum

benefit which would have been payable in the event of ill-health retirement as at the date
of death, where this was greater than one year's salary.)

(iv)The Superannuation Act, 1935, discarded the 'annual salary* basis and substituted the

' average salary ' over the last three years of service. At the same time the scale of the
lump sum benefit was varied to 3/80 per completed year of service, and the 'pension plus

lump sum' basis was extended to female civil servants.