Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 November 2020
234. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the timeframe for the full restoration of pensions to those public sector workers still having their pensions abated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39272/20]
View answerI have presumed that when referring to ‘pension restoration’ the Deputy is referring to the reversal of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR), which was introduced on 1 January 2011 under the FEMPI Act 2010 and is the only measure which led to a decrease in the actual payment value of public service pensions since 2008.
PSPR is separate and distinct from pension abatement, which is provided for under section 52 of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 and which provides for the reduction of a public service pension where a retired public servant is re-employed in the public service under certain circumstances.
With regard to PSPR, a three-stage partial reversal of PSPR was provided for in the FEMPI Act 2015, with rate reductions (via revised PSPR tables) occurring on 1 January in each of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 provided for the substantial further lessening of the impact of PSPR by way of rate and/or threshold in each of the years 2019 and 2020.
Overall, this means that since 1 January 2020, all pensions up to €54,000 per annum are now exempt from PSPR. This threshold is even higher, at €60,000, for those who retired between 1 March 2012 and 1 April 2019. It should be noted that pensions awarded in respect of retirements after 1 April 2019, the expiry date of the FEMPI 2013 grace period, are not subject to PSPR.
These changes mean that only those pre-March 2012 pensions that are linked to salary rates of a minimum amount of €108,000 per annum, or €120,000 per annum in the case of the 1 March 2012 - 1 April 2019 retiree group, bear a persisting PSPR impact from 1 January 2020 on. The vast majority of public service retirees - approximately 97% - are now entirely free from PSPR and as such, have had their pensions fully restored.
Finally, section 27 of the 2017 Act states that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will, no later than 31 December 2020, make an order which will specify a date for the full removal of PSPR from that residual group of PSPR-affected pensions.
