Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
290. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Education if consideration can be giving to enabling SNAs make contributions to an AVC pension scheme directly from their salary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2683/24]
View answerMy Department provides a Deduction at Source facility for voluntary deductions on the 4 payrolls for serving and retired teachers and Non Teaching Staff including SNAs. This facility is governed by the Deduction at Source Policy which is available on my Department’s website.
Amongst the criteria to be met to operate a deduction at source is that a minimum of 10% of the payroll population in question must require the deduction from salary before such a facility will be set up on a payroll.
SNAs are currently paid as part of the Non Teaching Staff Payroll. There were approximately 21,400 contracted staff paid on this payroll in January 2024 who would be eligible to join an AVC. This means that a new Deduction at Source would need to meet the 10% threshold of 2,140 subscribers.
If an AVC Provider can demonstrate that they are in a position to meet the criteria set out in the Policy document then discussions can then be initiated regarding the implementation of the deduction at source.
