Your pension questions:
PUBLIC SECTOR
Q. I am single person in the public service and I don’t want to contribute to a Spouse’s and Children’s scheme. Can I opt out?
A. No. Membership of the spouses’ and children’s schemes in the public service is now compulsory, regardless of your present marital status. If you retire unmarried, a benefit would still be paid under the scheme if you married subsequently and were survived by a spouse. The scheme also covers children born outside marriage.
I want to buy back service under a public service scheme – I find it difficult to get information, understand the terms and conditions etc. Who can I talk to?
Firstly, confirm with your pension administrator that you are entitled to buy back years and, most importantly, all of the conditions, costs and benefits involved. This is vitally important as it is likely that you may never look at this issue again until you retire at which time it could be too late to make any adjustments.
I am a teacher and have worked in several schools on and off both as full time and later as a supply teacher. Is there one central place to get all my pension information.
Many complaints received by the Pension Ombudsman result in the complainant accepting, usually reluctantly, that they did not fully understand some of the decisions they made many years ago, particularly for those who have moved around in the public sector in hospitals and schools.
It can be quite difficult to assemble all the details on past service, possibly due to have worked in many areas or because there was broken service history due to having a family, career breaks, part-time working, temporary working or emigration and a return to Ireland years later.
However the onus is on the employee to get confirmation from each of your previous employers of your exact employment record. The public sector should have records for you, but it could take a long time to get answers from schools and local authorities so you are better off keeping this documentation in a safe place over your career.
The pension ombudsman, Paul Kenny, is advocating that the government introduces an electronic pension passport which would contain all your pension information as you move from job to job over a lifetime.
However in the current recessionary climate, it is unlikely to happen in the near future.
Q. I am a pensioner and my pension usually increases in lines with my grade of pay from my former job, but recently I have not received the benefit of some increases paid to my service colleagues. Why?
A. While it has been customary for many years to adjust pensions in payment in line with general pay increases paid to serving staff in the public service, not all increases are passed on to pensioners. In particular, increases arising as a result of productivity deals are not passed on, and sometimes allowances of different kinds, which were not formerly pensioned, are made pensionable, again as a result of IR negotiations. Likewise, these are not reflected in the pensions of those already retired. However the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, said in his Budget 2010 speech that linking pensions to current rates of pay was likely to cease in the future, with some other mechanism to be devised for increasing pensions.
Q. If I work for more than 40 years, why should I carry on paying into the pension fund/Spouses and Childrens as I can only get a pension based on 40 years service?
A. Pension contributions must be made while in employment even if the service is not reckonable for pension purposes. In general, however contributions to Spouses and Children’s schemes are limited to 40 years. If you are a member for more than 40 years, the earliest contributions made are refunded.
PRIVATE SECTOR
Q. I am in a Defined Contribution pension scheme and the value of my pension fund has dropped significantly in the recession. Should my pension provider not have put my pension savings into a safer investment, such as cash?
A. That depends on the circumstances. You may complain if your instructions in relation to your investments were not heeded of if there were undue delays in administering your benefits which led to a loss, for exmple. In general, you may not complain about the failure of a trustee or administrator to act when they have not received instructions.
Q. I am a carpenter and work full time for a small construction company. There are no deductions from my wages for a pension or benefits such as sick pay. What are my rights?
A. If your employer is in the construction industry, your employer is obliged to register his business under the Registered Employment Agreement (REA) for the industry. If you are a construction worker (not a foreman or higher) your employer must deduct pension contributions from your wages and pay them, along with his own contributions into a pension scheme which provides benefits no less than those set out in the REA.
The most popular scheme in the Construction Workers Pensions Scheme and this is the scheme most employers in the trade use. If your employer refuses to make contributions, contact the Construction Industry Monitoring Agency at Unit 26, Northwood Court, Northwood Business Campus, Santry, Dublin 9. Tel: 01 852 4100.
Q. The charges on my PRSA are very high. Are there rules about the amounts providers can charge?
A. Yes and No. If you have a standard PRSA, you cannot be charged more than 5% on the contributions you pay and 1% a year on managed funds. In practice your pension provider should be willing to negotiate their fees. If you have a non-standard PRSA, there is no limit on charges and you can invest in a range of funds.
If you feel you are not being charged in line with the terms of your original agreement contact the Financial Services Ombudsman (link to quick links)
If your pension is a standard PRSA you can contact the Pensions Board as the charges for standard PRSAs are capped.
Q. I left employment some years ago with a preserved pension. Now that I am over 50, I wish to take it as an early retirement pension. I was told when I left that I could do this, but now the trustees refuse to pay me.
A. The most likely answer is that your scheme has run into some difficulties with solvency. If the trustees do not have enough money at present to meet all their liabilities, they may be unable to pay your pension before your normal retirement date.
