asked the Minister for Finance the average period of time which elapses between the date of retirement of a civil servant and the first payment of his pension; whether the calculation of such pension is carried out prior to, or after, retirement; and whether he will take steps to have civil servants' pensions calculated in advance of their retirement dates in all cases where the date is known, with a view to eliminating any gap between retirement and receipt of pension.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Calculation of Civil Service Pensions.
18.
The present position is that pension awards are issued in most cases within three weeks after retirement. Provided that the pensioner applies in writing for payment, so that the Paymaster General's Office can verify his signature and address, payment of his pension will be at the end of the month. Where retirement occurs late in a month, it may happen that payment will not fall to be made until the end of the next month.
The Deputy will appreciate that as Civil Service pensions are payable in arrear, it follows that an interval must elapse between the date of retirement and the date of first payment of pension. It has been found more satisfactory to calculate pensions immediately after retirement when final particulars of pay, service, absences, etc., are available. In some cases where difficulty arises in determining the correct amount of superannuation, there may be delay in issuing the award but in any case where the officer has actually left the service every effort is made to effect payment in accordance with the above procedure, or, if this is not possible, to issue an interim award of superannuation to the pensioner.
Where it is quite clear that the officer must retire on reaching the age limit or where the Department has decided that he must retire because of his health or other reasons, surely it should be possible to calculate the amount of pension to be paid to such an officer and there should be no delay between the payment of salary and the payment of pension? In many cases the period of three weeks mentioned by the Minister is exceeded, with the result that the officer concerned is embarrassed. Perhaps the Minister could arrange some system whereby the pension will be calculated on the information in the Department's possession, information that is not likely to change?
As the pension is paid monthly, there may be a delay of up to four weeks until the month is up. If a person retires early in the month, he does not get the pension until the end of the month. Therefore, there may be a delay of three or almost four weeks. He gets his gratuity immediately, or he has the gratuity, which, as a rule, is a substantial sum to carry on with.
There are many more weekly wage earners than monthly salary earners. What the Minister says in respect of monthly payments does not affect weekly payments.
The pensions are monthly.
It is a matter of about half an hour to calculate a pension. If the machinery were speeded up in respect of the calculation of a pension, there would be less delay.
There is no delay as a rule. Suppose a person retires on 5th February. He is paid his pension at the end of February. We cannot do more than that.
I can produce information to prove to the Minister that that is not so.
I will bet there are exceptional cases.
The Minister would be surprised at the percentage.