Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012

• Permanent Page URL

Calculation of retirement benefits — Scheme members who may be required to retire early.

26.— (1) This section has effect in respect of service as a pensionable public servant by a Scheme member or former Scheme member in any of the following cases:

(a) as a member of the Garda Síochána in a pensionable position that requires retirement, or gives an entitlement to retire, upon attaining 55 years of age;

(b) as a member of the Permanent Defence Force in a pensionable position that—

(i) requires retirement or discharge or gives an entitlement on retirement or discharge to immediate payment of retirement benefits upon attaining 50 years of age, or

(ii) is subject to compulsory retirement or discharge on completion of a specified period of service or on age grounds or otherwise in accordance with that person’s terms and conditions of service and which requires him or her to be retired or discharged before attaining the age of 50 years;

(c) as a prison officer in a pensionable position that requires retirement, or gives an entitlement to retire, upon attaining 55 years of age;

(d) as a specified fire brigade employee.

(2) A person who is a Scheme member or former Scheme member to whom paragraph (a), (b)(i), (c) or (d) of subsection (1) relates and who—

(a) has completed the vesting period, and

(b) attains the age to which that paragraph relates,

shall, subject to section 52 and upon application being made to the relevant authority, be eligible to receive upon commencement of retirement or discharge—

(i) an annual pension equivalent to the sum of the referable amounts in respect of each calendar year or part of a calendar year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies, and

(ii) a lump sum payment equivalent to the sum of the referable amounts in respect of each calendar year or part of a calendar year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies.

(3) (a) A person who is a Scheme member or former Scheme member to whom paragraph (b)(ii) of subsection (1) relates and who has completed the vesting period shall, subject to paragraph (b) and upon application being made to the relevant authority, be eligible to receive—

(i) an annual pension equivalent to the sum of the referable amounts in respect of each calendar year or part of a calendar year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies, and

(ii) a lump sum payment equivalent to the sum of the referable amounts in respect of each calendar year or part of a calendar year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a)—

(i) where the person concerned is retired or discharged from the Permanent Defence Force on completion of a specified period of service or on age grounds or in accordance with subsection (1)(b)(ii), then, without prejudice to section 28 (5) or 29 , the commencement of payment of retirement benefits shall not be earlier than the age at which a person is entitled to the pension and lump sum payment under section 28 (1)(a),

(ii) where the person concerned retires, resigns or is dismissed or discharged from the Permanent Defence Force—

(I) as a consequence of any fault, omission or action of that person, or

(II) otherwise than in accordance with subsection (1)(b)(ii),

then, without prejudice to section 28 (5) or 29 , the commencement of payment of retirement benefits shall not be earlier than the age at which a person is entitled to the pension and lump sum payment under section 28 (1)(b).

(4) Section 13 shall be read subject to this section.

(5) In this section—

“prison officer” means a person to whom, but for this Part, a superannuation allowance might be granted (without a medical certificate) upon his or her attaining the age of 55 years, by virtue of being a person to whom paragraph (a) (inserted by section 5 of the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 ) of section 1 (1) of the Superannuation (Prison Officers) Act 1919 relates;

“referable amounts in respect of each calendar year or part of a calendar year”, in relation to a calendar year or part of a calendar year of service, means—

(a) for the purpose of the calculation of an annual pension, an amount calculated at a rate of—

(i) 0.58 per cent of the Scheme member’s pensionable remuneration for that year or part of a year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies that is less than or equal to 3.74 times the value of the contributory State Pension at that time, as adjusted, when not working on a full-time basis, by reference to the proportion that the number of hours worked bears to the number of hours that would have been worked if working on a full-time basis, and

(ii) 1.43 per cent of the Scheme member’s pensionable remuneration for that year or part of a year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies that is greater than 3.74 times the value of the contributory State Pension at that time, as adjusted, when not working on a full-time basis, by reference to the proportion that the number of hours worked bears to the number of hours that would have been worked if working on a full-time basis,

and

(b) for the purpose of the calculation of the lump sum payment, an amount calculated at a rate of 4.29 per cent of the Scheme member’s pensionable remuneration for that year or part of a year as a Scheme member to whom subsection (1) applies, adjusted by reference to the proportion of full-time hours worked by the person where not working on a full-time basis,

and as adjusted thereafter, until payment of the pension and lump sum arises in accordance with this Part, by reference to such adjustments as may arise as provided for in section 40 ;

“specified fire brigade employee” means a person who holds a whole-time post under a local authority which is a fire authority under the Fire Services Act 1981 whose duties include the attendance at fires and whose conditions of employment, as determined by a local authority under section 158(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 2001 , require him or her to retire upon attaining the age of 55 years.