Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2023
18. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if all Defence Force pensioners are included in the next payment tranche of 2% due in March 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14095/23]
View answerThe benefit of the 2% pay increase effective from 1 March 2023 under the extension of the Building Momentum Agreement 2022-2023 is applicable to the vast majority of Defence Forces pensioners. Currently there are in excess of 13,100 Defence Forces pensioners in receipt of payments.
The existing government pension policy, as it applies to the Defence Forces, is as follows:
For Defence Forces pensioners who are members of the pre-2013 pension schemes, the principle of maintaining parity with pay has been agreed up to the end of 2023. The concept of pay parity means that any and all benefits of general round pay increases granted to serving Defence Forces staff will be passed on, as appropriate, to relevant Defence Forces pensioners. This policy of maintaining pensions pay parity will apply up to the end of 2023, after which the Government will consider its approach for future pension increase policy.
The Single Public Service Pension Scheme applies, in general, to staff who have joined the public service from 1 January 2013 onwards. Defence Forces pensioners who are members of the Single Pension Scheme have their pensions increased on the basis of the Consumer Price Index. Therefore such pensions will not be adjusted with reference to the 1 March 2023 pay increase. Instead a CPI based increase of 8.2%, effective from 1 January 2023, has already been applied to Single Pension Scheme pensions that are in payment. Currently there are only six such Defence Forces pensions under this Single Pension Scheme, as it is a relatively recent scheme.
Defence Forces pensioners who are in receipt of disability pensions will benefit from these increases as well.
I can confirm that preparatory work is well underway to implement the benefit of the 1 March 2023 increase as soon as practicable.
The implementation of pension increases for Defence Forces pensions is a significant administrative undertaking for my Department and its payroll provider, the National Shared Services Office, due to the unique nature and structure of Defence Forces pensions.
Military pension rates are not based on the usual generic service/salary decimal calculations, but on a multiplicity of flat rates (not directly pay-related) which are a combination of retiring rank, service in rank and overall service with a range of components driven by pay-codes, and not by position points within pay scales as applies in other Public Service Bodies.
In addition to the above, it is important to highlight that there are ongoing numbers of PDF personnel retiring who need to be prioritised ahead of all other tasks, to ensure that their pensions come into payment on a timely basis following cessation of their salaries and to avoid them being left without any income.
