Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
470. Deputy Chris Andrews asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to sign off on a pension increase for retired prison officers under the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, provisions. [33136/20]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, the previous Government approved the current pension increase policy for the pre-existing public service pension schemes (i.e. all pension schemes apart from the Single Public Service Pension Scheme) as part of its commitments under the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA).
Under this policy, which applies for the duration of the PSSA, pay increases granted to serving staff over the course of the PSSA are passed on to those pensions awarded under the pre-existing public service schemes where the salary on which the pension is based does not exceed the salary of serving staff with the same grade and scale point, after the pay increase has been applied.
If it qualifies, the pension is eligible for an increase to the extent that this will ensure alignment with the pay of serving staff. The most recent guidance issued by my Department on the matter is Circular 19/2019, which is available online at: www.gov.ie/en/circular/b5d982-circular-192019-further-instruction-on-the-pension-increase-policy-I/.
It appears that the matter to which the Deputy is referring arises from the application of the pension increase policy to situations in which a pensionable fixed periodic allowance (rent allowance, in the case of Prison Officers) was increased and then consolidated into the relevant salary scales. This issue, which is not explicitly addressed under the terms of the PSSA, is under active review by my Department and it is expected that relevant guidance will be issued shortly to the National Shared Services Office.
