Explanatory note

Under section 2 of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 (as amended by section 25 of the Superannuation Act 1972) the Minister for the Civil Service is required to conduct a review of rates of public service pensions against any rise in the cost of living during the review period. The Order provides for the payment, with effect from 1st December 1972, of the pension increases resulting from the 1972 review and based on the rise in the cost of living during the review period of fifteen months ending with 30th June 1972. To qualify for increase a person must satisfy one of the qualifying conditions specified in section 3 of the 1971 Act.

For pensions which began on or before 1st April 1971 the increase is of the percentage by which the cost of living rose during the review period (9·9%). For pensions which began in the six months following 1st April 1971, in the six months following 1st October 1971 or in the three months following 1st April 1972, the increases (11%, 5·6%, and 3·5% respectively) are of the percentage by which the cost of living at the end of the review period exceeded its mean level during the respective periods of six months ending 30th April 1971, six months ending 31st October 1971 and three months ending 1st February 1972.

The Order reproduces, in the Schedule, section 1 of the 1971 Act with the effect of the Order incorporated in it, so as to indicate the cumulative increases payable under the Act and the Order.

The Order also provides for the payment, as a result of the review, of increases on certain lump sums of which payment was deferred and which became payable in the nine months ending with 1st July 1972.