Single Public Service Pension Scheme

Not sure if this query is in the right place but using your numbers, I think the annual pension would be €18,750. Gratuity would be €56,250. Your example assumes 30 years of service, which would give you 3/4 of the full pension entitlement (if you had the full 40 years, you’d get €25k and a €75k lump sum). However, as there are increments to be had, the starting and finishing salary levels will differ (ignoring possible promotions or getting higher scale).

Your annuity (i.e. annual pension) accrues at a rate of 0.58% of your income each year up to (3.74 times the PRSI pension), after which any benefits accrue at 1.25%. That is to say,any amount of income earned in excess of €51,595 (€265.30 x 52 weeks x 3.74) would accrue at a rate of 1.25% per annum, and any amount below that would accrue at a rate of 0.58% per annum.

So, for the sake of simplicity, let's say you earned €50,000 for each of your 30 years, this would entitle you to an occupational pension of €50,000 x 0.58% x 30 years = €8,700 per annum.

You will be entitled to draw this public sector occupational pension upon reaching normal retirement age (now 66).

Like every other worker who makes A rate PRSI contributions, public or private sector, you will also be entitled to the PRSI Contributory State pension. What that will be by the time you retire obviously remains yo be seen, but it certainly won't be as generous as the rate today.

In short, you need to get cracking on setting up your private pension, as the days of the so called 'gold-plated' pensions are long gone for newer civil servants.

It depends. What part of the civil service are you in? Overtime is never considered pensionable income. Generally, unsociable hours are pensionable.

Garda pension will be worth 13k after 30 years, give or take. Provided you stay on a core roster, as the unsociable hours will bring a reasonable amount of your income above the 51.5k threshold. If you are in certain jobs such as gardai, prison officer, firefighter etc, the excess is accrued at 1.43% as opposed to 1.25%. If you earn 10k in unsociable hours above the the threshold (which is attainable provided you don't take annual leave on Public Holidays and Sundays, and minimise annual leave on nights), that will give you an extra €4,290 (€10,000 x 1.43%) per annum above the €8,700 fugure mentioned above ( i.e. c 13k). If you go onto a non-core roster, your pension will be very negatively affected, as you will lose out on a huge amount of unsociable hours payments. So I hope you have no desires to become a detective, or a community garda.

Lump sum should be worth 60k to 70k. Your employer is obliged to furnish you with an 'Annual Benefit Statement' every year which outlines exactly how much pension you have worked up that year, both in terms of your annuity and lump sum, as well as outlining the cumulative benefit you've worked up. Every employer in the public and civil service is obliged to provide this statement every year to any employee on the Single scheme. Have you been getting these statements?

No problem. Get started on those AVCs though. You will have to retire at 60, but won't be able to draw to Contributory Pension until 66/67/68, so you'll need something to plug that 8 year gap, as there's no way you'll live on 13k per annum.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

I assume you are referring to circular 18/2017.

You will not get the Contributory pension until you reach 66, or whatever the pension age is when you retire. When they use the term 'integrated', it is meaningless, as it doesn't confer any extra pension entitlement on you that you would not otherwise have, were you not a member of the Single Scheme.

Assuming, the pension age is 66 when you retire, if you retired at 63 years of age, you will be entitled to an actuarily reduced pension of 90% of the benefit you've worked up.

For simplicity's sake, say you were on 50k per annum every year until you retired at age 63 after 35 year's service.

You will have worked up a pension of 35 years x €50,000 x .58% = €10,150.

However, if you retired at 63, it will be reduced to 90% of €10,150, i.e. €9,135 per annum.

Now, if by the time you retire, the Contributory pension age is 68, your occupational pension will be further reduced to 83% of it's value i.e. €8,424.

That's what you'll have to live on for those years between retirement and being eligible to receive your contributory pension. And the Contributory pension will certainly not hold the same value in years to come.

Here is a guide to buying extra benefits in the Single PSPS:

https://singlepensionscheme.gov.ie/for-members/scheme-information/ataglance/purchase-of-additional-benefits/

You can, see post 14 above:

This is very useful. I am 20 years to retirement and in the public service 5 years. I am awaiting info from our pensions team on how to buy additional years. I could do a lump sum or increase my monthly contribution. I would like to get the fullly 40 year entitlerment by the time I retire. Has anybody done this?

My wife has a high second income so maybe increasing my monthly contribution by 1000 a month would be a better option and reduce my current tax bill.

Waiting to hear back from the pension team internally. I requeted a quote earler in the summer.