Peter Burke
Question:55. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason a person (details supplied) has not received increases to the person's pension. [21265/19]
View answerThursday, 16 May 2019
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Written answers
Under the current pension increase policy for pre-existing pension schemes agreed as part of the Public Services Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), with effect from 1 September 2017, pay increases applied to serving staff in 2016 and 2017, as well as those approved over the course of the Agreement, are passed on to qualifying pensions. A pension will qualify for an increase if the pay rate on which it is based does not exceed the pay rate of a serving member of staff with the same grade and scale point, after the pay increase has been applied. Assuming it qualifies, the pension is increased to the extent that this will ensure alignment with the pay of the serving staff member. All pension paying authorities in the public service received instructions to pass on pay increases to pension recipients in accordance with this policy by means of DPER Circulars 20/2017 and 02/2018.
Separately, the FEMPI 2015 Act and the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 Act substantially lessened both the impact of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) and the numbers of pension recipients affected by it in 2018 and 2019, and the effects will extend even further in 2020. Since 1 January 2018, the majority of public service pensions have not been subject to PSPR.
The matter of identifying and processing any pension increase and/or PSPR reduction or removal due to any individual pension recipient falls to the Department/Office or public service body that administers the relevant pension scheme. I understand that the individual in the case referred by the Deputy retired from a body that comes under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills. Accordingly, any request for more detailed information regarding the status of the pension in question by reference to the policies I have outlined should be directed to my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills.