The pension benefits of school employees, as with all pensionable public servants are governed by legislation and/or circulars and are in accordance with public sector pension policy. Pension entitlements of employees vary as they are based on an individual’s specific circumstances such as date of recruitment, number of years’ service and pensionable remuneration.
Public sector employees, including teachers and SNAs, appointed to the public service for the first time from 1st January 2013 are generally members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (“the Single Scheme”). There is no discrepancy in how a teacher’s or an SNA’s pension entitlements are calculated under the Single Scheme. Under the Single Scheme, referable amounts are built up over a member’s career towards their retirement pension and lump sum. The referable amounts are calculated based on the salary received by an individual each time they get paid.
With regard to primary school teachers and SNAs that are members of pension schemes in existence before the introduction of the Single Scheme, again, there is no discrepancy in how their pension entitlements are calculated. These schemes are defined benefit schemes which provide for pension benefits based on a member’s final pensionable remuneration at retirement and their number of years’ pensionable service.
Generally speaking teachers who joined a pension scheme prior to 1995 pay D rate PRSI and receive an uncoordinated pension at retirement whereas teachers who joined a pension scheme after 1995, along with SNA’s, pay A rate PRSI and receive a coordinated pension at retirement. Coordination is used as a means of taking into account the benefits payable under the social welfare system to calculate the amount of pension payable from a pension scheme and the level of contributions payable by the member towards the cost of their pension.
An uncoordinated pension is calculated as 1/80th of pensionable remuneration for each year of reckonable service, subject to a maximum of 40/80ths of pensionable remuneration.
A coordinated pension is calculated as 1/200th of pensionable remuneration up to 3 and 1/3 times the single rate of State Pension Contributory (SPC) for each year of reckonable service plus 1/80th of any balance of pensionable remuneration in excess of 3 and 1/3 times the single rate of SPC for each year of reckonable service subject to a maximum of 40 years’ service.
It should be noted an employee in receipt of a coordinated pension, having paid A rate PRSI may also have an entitlement to the State Contributory Pension whereas an employee with only D rate PRSI contributions will have no such entitlement.
There is no variation in how the retirement lump sum is calculated for members paying D or A rate PRSI.
