The Comptroller and Auditor General's (C&AG) special study on public service pensions in 2009 estimated the annual pension cost for public servants to range between 10% and 41%. The new scheme will reduce these costs by approximately one-third. The employee contribution in the Single Scheme continues to be 6.5% (3% on pensionable pay and 3.5% on net pensionable pay (i.e. reduced for social welfare integration)), which nets to an average contribution of about 5% of total pay for most public servants.
There is no fund as public service schemes are pay-as-you-go. Employee contributions are actual in that pay is reduced to account for these. Employer contributions are estimated as being that figure necessary to fund the retirement benefits, were a fund to exist, after employee contributions are taken into account.
The C&AG derived employer contribution rates for various categories of staff in his 2009 report — see Table below. Without carrying out a substantial and expensive actuarial exercise, the best estimate is to reduce the employer rates derived by the C&AG below for each category in line with overall one-third reduction and that means approximately a 10% or higher employer contribution in the new scheme for the majority of public servants.
Table
Notional contribution rates — post 2005 male entrants (C&AG Report 2009)
|
Categories from C&AG
|
gross contribution rate
|
Employee contribution
|
Current notional employer rate
|
Single Scheme notional employer rate
|
Established CS
|
24.6%
|
4.6%
|
20.0%
|
11.8%
|
Non-Established CS
|
9.5%
|
0.3%
|
9.2%
|
6.0%
|
Primary Teacher
|
20.5%
|
4.9%
|
15.6%
|
8.8%
|
Post-Primary Teacher
|
23.1%
|
4.9%
|
18.2%
|
10.5%
|
Garda
|
29.6%
|
5.1%
|
24.5%
|
14.6%
|
Prison Officer
|
27.8%
|
4.5%
|
23.3%
|
14.0%
|
Commissioned Officer
|
41.2%
|
4.8%
|
36.4%
|
22.7%
|
Enlisted Personnel
|
22.4%
|
0.4%
|
22.0%
|
14.5%
|
Consultant
|
25.9%
|
6.0%
|
19.9%
|
11.3%
|
Nurse (general)
|
17.7%
|
4.7%
|
13.0%
|
7.1%
|
Established in NCSSB
|
22.7%
|
4.9%
|
17.8%
|
10.2%
|