Vol. 506 No. 3
65 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance his views on the abandoning of pension parity between retired public employees and increases in pension awarded to their working colleagues; and if he will review this decision. [15623/99]
The Government has not abandoned pensions parity.
In June 1997, in An Action Programme for the Millennium, the Government undertook to protect public service pensions. In November 1997, the Government announced that the benefit of the restructuring pay deals under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work would apply on the basis of parity to public servants who had retired before the commencement dates; however, in order to protect those retired public servants who would have received less than 3 per cent had parity been applied in the normal way, the Government decided that pensioners should be guaranteed a minimum increase of 3 per cent or 2 per cent in the case of any pensioners who have already received an advance payment of 1 per cent. It also announced that the refinement on traditional parity, which met the particular complexities of the PCW restructuring deals, was a once off measure to address those particular circumstances and that the policy in relation to any future restructuring deals will be determined in the light of the recommendations in the final report of the commission on public service pensions. I look forward to receiving that report in the coming months.
