As 1538 proceeded, applications for surrender flooded in.

Cromwell appointed a local commissioner

in each case to ensure rapid compliance with the King's wishes, to supervise the orderly sale of
monastic goods and buildings, to dispose of monastic endowments, and to ensure that the former
monks and nuns were provided with pensions, cash gratuities and clothing. The second time round,
the process proved to be much quicker and easier. Existing tenants would have their tenancies
continued, and lay office holders would continue to receive their incomes and fees (even though they
now had no duties or obligations). Monks or nuns who were aged, handicapped or infirm were
marked out for more generous pensions, and care was taken throughout that there should be
nobody cast out of their place unprovided for (who might otherwise have increased the burden of
charity for local parishes). In a few instances, even monastic servants were provided with a year's
wages on discharge.[citation needed]
The endowments of the monasteries, landed property and appropriated parish tithes and glebe were
transferred to the Court of Augmentations, who would thereon pay out life pensions and fees at the
agreed rate; subject to the court's fee of 4d in the pound, plus in most years the clerical 'Tenth', a
10% tax deduction on clergy incomes. Pensions averaged around £5 per annum before tax for
monks, with those for superiors typically assessed at 10% of the net annual income of the house,
and were not reduced if the pensioner obtained other employment. If, however, the pensioner
accepted a royal appointment or benefice of greater annual value than their pension, the pension
would be extinguished. In 1538, £5 compared with the annual wages of a skilled worker; and
although the real value of such a fixed income would suffer through inflation, it remained a significant
sum; all the more welcome as prompt payment could largely be relied upon. [citation needed]
Pensions granted to nuns were notably less generous, averaging around £3 per annum. During
Henry's reign, former nuns, like monks, continued to be forbidden to marry, therefore it is more
possible that genuine hardship resulted, especially as former nuns had little access to opportunities
for gainful employment. Where nuns came from well-born families, as many did, they seem
commonly to have returned to live with their relatives. Otherwise, there were a number of instances
where former nuns of a house clubbed together in a shared household. Moreover, there were no
retrospective pensions for those monks or nuns who had already sought secularisation following the
1535 visitation, nor for those members of the smaller houses dissolved in 1536 and 1537 who had
not then remained in the religious life, nor for those houses dissolved before 1538 due to the
conviction for treason of their superior, and no friars were pensioned. [citation needed]