Question about early retirement for civil servants

bumblepuppy

Hi, I would really appreciate some input from anybody with experience of early retirement for public servants (teachers) on a cost neutral basis. I read on the Asti website that the calculation of how much you receive is based on the age last birthday of the applicant, and that you have to apply for your pension at least 3 months before you retire.

My question is does this system still stand, and if it does, does it refer to the age you are when you apply for early retirement (at least 3 months before you wish to retire) or the age you are when you actually retire? Seems a strange way of calculating the pension given that it means that it is possible for two people with exactly the same time spent teaching, who retire on exactly the same date, to have a different pension depending on when their birthday is – or am I missing something? I have asked official sources about this and they won’t commit to a straight answer, so I just wondered if there is anyone out there with first-hand experience.

Many thanks in advance for any help anyone can give with this.

BuffyBot

As this isn't a question about a commercially available pension I'm moving this somewhere that it may find a better answer

looksee

Your pension is calculated on the number of eligible years worked - ie years when pension contributions were made. If you have years missing for any reason your pension will be reduced by that amount.

Stavro Mueller

The 3 months is an admin thing so they can do the calculations and put arrangements in place e.g. lump sum, having the pension ready to be paid without delay once the person retires. That's what happened where I worked anyway.

bumblepuppy

Thanks for that Buffybot:).

And many thanks Looksee and Cymbaline for your answers. I have not got any years missing as such, but some of the years I have worked were in different teaching categories so I am presuming that will be taken into account. Giving three months notice seems reasonable enough, I can see the logic in that.

It is the birthday thing that has me flummoxed (if the Asti site is currently correct in saying that the percentage of my cost neutral pension that will be applied depending on my age - http://www.asti.ie/pay-and-conditions/retirement-pensions/frequently-asked-questions/#questiontwelve), because the ideal date for me to retire is at the end of the summer holidays, a couple of weeks before my birthday. Retiring 2 or 3 weeks into the beginning of term, if permitted, seems unfair on the kids and other staff, and waiting until the end of term would mess up my plans quite a bit, but I would prefer to do that rather than mess everyone around. It is also preferable to retiring on my ideal date at the cost of losing 3% of my pension and lump sum (according to info on the ASTI site). The “age last birthday” system only seems to apply to cost-neutral early retirement, not to people taking retirement at normal retirement age. All very confusing