Pension issue

Grueller

I have a sister who started her first secondary teaching job in September 2004. This leaves her on the post 2004 pension which she tells me is not as beneficial as the pre 04 pension.

My query is this. She has primary sector service from pre 2004 as a department paid substitute. Would this entitle her to a pre 2004 pension? She is a member of the tui but just does not know who to contact about it. She would be very poor at standing up for herself and I am not a teacher so have no real knowledge of how to go about helping her.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

TheDriver

Ask TUI, sounds like a case worth pushing and they have dedicated people for that. Only thing which might be an issue is if she was qualified in primary sector

Grueller

TheDriver wrote: »

Ask TUI, sounds like a case worth pushing and they have dedicated people for that. Only thing which might be an issue is if she was qualified in primary sector

She is not qualified but was department paid for her time not school paid. She thinks this may make a difference.

joebloggs32

Tell her to ask her school steward for contact details for her area rep. If the area rep can't assist they will be able to put you in touch with someone in head office who would.
I'm in the same boat myself and Last year I requested a statement of service from the department. I'm still waiting! I must get back on it.

Grueller

joebloggs32 wrote: »

Tell her to ask her school steward for contact details for her area rep. If the area rep can't assist they will be able to put you in touch with someone in head office who would.
I'm in the same boat myself and Last year I requested a statement of service from the department. I'm still waiting! I must get back on it.

I do realise that teachers have more on their plates at the moment than this, but the sister never followed this up. Interested to know did you joebloggs32?

joebloggs32

Grueller wrote: »

I do realise that teachers have more on their plates at the moment than this, but the sister never followed this up. Interested to know did you joebloggs32?

I re submitted my query to the Department in February, and still no response. Nothing. Must get on to them again.

TheDriver

If you're not getting a response, I would think your union would be a prudent move to expedite things

spurious

OP, AFAIK all the ETBs have a dedicated person who works out the pension entitlements for people on retirement. They are really very thorough. I know the one in my ETB (a very large one) was great.

They are also usually up to their eyes, but it might be worth your sister's while contacting the person in her ETB, letting them know there is no great rush with her query.

Grueller

spurious wrote: »

OP, AFAIK all the ETBs have a dedicated person who works out the pension entitlements for people on retirement. They are really very thorough. I know the one in my ETB (a very large one) was great.

They are also usually up to their eyes, but it might be worth your sister's while contacting the person in her ETB, letting them know there is no great rush with her query.

Thanks you spurious but she is in a community school.

BoatMad

Grueller wrote: »

Thanks you spurious but she is in a community school.

The department itself will be very slow to answer , the Union is the place to start

In general however , it may be possible to either aggregate the pension from both employments or to have a split pension , i.e. preserved benefits from first public service employment and a 2nd pension from the post 2004 period . However aggregating the pre 2004 pension , would result in the benefits accruing under the post 2004 rules ( i.e. preserved benefits would be lost ) .

Note that both jobs would have to be regarded as pensionable teaching positions,other wise she simply ends up with a split pension

if the first employment was not pensionable, then that cannot be counted

any break if less then 26 weeks is not regarded as a break for pension purposes ( other then proportionality of time )

Note that the rules for joining the teachers pension scheme are somewhat complex but basically you cant have a break in service of more then 26 weeks. in essence after 26 weeks break you have left the pension scheme. ( of the day ) ( there are some exceptions for special schools ) so if her previous job was then followed by a greater then 26 week break, then you in split pension terrority ( However there were concessions to career break teachers to buy back pension years etc)

happywithlife

Having first made contact with my etb and dept of ed in April '15 querying why I was on new Entrant pension I FINALLY got it sorted yesterday and was assured as of next paycheque it should be righted! Long slow battle where I'd forget about it for a few months and then chase it up again. This thread prompted me to ring again and it's finally sorted :-)
Each of them were constantly waiting for the other to email something and when it was nobody ever seemed to process anything till I'd ring again. Same story yesterday- dept were waiting on etb to respond to their email. Etb payroll person was passing it off to pension person but wouldn't give me a specific name when I pushed for one so I could personally chase it up. They did however "look into it" and rang me back about 15 mins later to tell me it was done.
Lesson to others - perservere and keep after them and remember to follow it up yourself

deiseindublin

That's fab happywithlife, hopefully it'll be backdated and you'll have a nice chunk of pay for Christmas.

happywithlife

deiseindublin wrote: »

That's fab happywithlife, hopefully it'll be backdated and you'll have a nice chunk of pay for Christmas.

Not due anything back as far as I know. My payscale was correct (ish) but I was down for post 2004 pension which would be career average as opposed to finishing salary - that's my understanding anyway. Don't think I'm due anything as such but it was more to get the pension issue sorted once and for all.
Now side issue did crop up where dept have no record of me on their system for 04 when I was in a private school but I.m adamant I was dept paid not school paid. Unfortunately I think i got rid of old payslips in a house move a few years back and I.m waiting to hear back from an enquiry to the school in question. Now if I can prove I was dept paid I'm short a payscale and was told that would be backdated so that would be happy days but again it's proving to be a pain to sort and requires me to push for any movement from any party involved. I'll keep you posted;-)

mirrorwall14

In case anyone panics career average was post 2011

Someone more knowledgeable may correct me but

Pension 1: pre 2004. Best pension.
Pension 2: post 2004 pre 2011. Second best pension
Pension 3:post 2011 career average

r93kaey5p2izun

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

In case anyone panics career average was post 2011

Someone more knowledgeable may correct me but

Pension 1: pre 2004. Best pension.
Pension 2: post 2004 pre 2011. Second best pension
Pension 3:post 2011 career average

I think the career average Single Pension Scheme is from 2013.

happywithlife

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

In case anyone panics career average was post 2011

Someone more knowledgeable may correct me but

Pension 1: pre 2004. Best pension.
Pension 2: post 2004 pre 2011. Second best pension
Pension 3:post 2011 career average

My bad. Didn't mean to scare anyone.

TheDriver

There is some good info on dep't website about pensions.

There's actually little difference between 1&2 above regarding pension but big difference as to when u can collect it e.g no 33/55 provision and no retire at 60 unless 40 years complete

r93kaey5p2izun

Also a difference in how much is paid to receive the same pension between 1 and 2 above I think. People in category 2 are paying a higher rate of PRSI alongside pension deductions so their pension will be made up of combined state pension and public sector pension - same total amount but costing more. As well as less favourable terms as described.

TheDriver

It doesn't cost more as A PRSI pay less contribution

rainbowtrout

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

In case anyone panics career average was post 2011

Someone more knowledgeable may correct me but

Pension 1: pre 2004. Best pension.
Pension 2: post 2004 pre 2011. Second best pension
Pension 3:post 2011 career average

TheDriver wrote: »

There is some good info on dep't website about pensions.

There's actually little difference between 1&2 above regarding pension but big difference as to when u can collect it e.g no 33/55 provision and no retire at 60 unless 40 years complete

Pension 1 above can be split into two different pension categories. Pre 95 and Post 95.


Pre 95 pay Class D PRSI and don't get the state pension. They can avail of 33/55 rule etc. Post 1995 - 2004 pay Class A PRSI. State pension is part of teaching pension.

TheDriver

And 95-2004 can also avail of 33/55 rule.