Page 48 - Group Insurance and Retirement Benefit IC 83 E- Book

provision of a widow's pension is most necessary. Turning now to regressive aspects of

the scheme, the first point concerns reckon ability of service for superannuation purposes.

All continuous service under the National Health Scheme counts; but similar
discontinuous service is only aggregated if (a) there has been no disqualifying break of 12

months or more, and contributions previously returned are repaid, or (b) there has been a
disqualifying break and additional contributory payments are made to secure reckon

ability as 'contributing' service (provided always that no outgoing transfer value was paid

in respect of such earlier service). On transfer from a local authority, previous local
government service reckons only if a transfer value passes, and this is dependent on the

absence of a disqualifying break and on the repayment of any contributions returned by

the former employer, with a converse regulation governing reckons ability on removal
from the National Health Service to a local authority. This is a regrettable departure from

local government precedents, particularly so since transfers of this nature will probably
continue to be fairly numerous.

A further retrograde step is that, on the appointed day under the 1946 Act, very large
sums became payable, by way of transfer values, from the superannuation funds of local

authorities. Since the central scheme is unfunded, these sums will, presumably, be

applied by the Exchequer towards current The Development of Public Superannuation
Schemes 17 expenditure, i.e. there will be an actual disposal of funds, which cannot be

regarded as financially sound. The only other point worthy of note is in connexion with
former voluntary hospitals. The staff of these was pensionable by way of policy schemes,

such as the Federated Superannuation Scheme for Nurses and Hospital Officers, and
provision has been made in the 1947 Regulations for the continuance of existing policies

following the transfer of the staff to the National Health Service. It may be added that

parallel Superannuation (Local Government and Policy Schemes) Interchange Rules have
been made under the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1948.