Cost-Neutral Early Retirement (CNER) is a mechanism which allows public servants to receive early payment of their pension benefits, subject to eligibility criteria, where they resign prior to their preserved pension age. The preserved pension age, in general, for public servants used to be either 60 or 65, but public servants can avail of CNER and retire earlier on an actuarial reduced pension. Full public service pension equates to 40 years service and can be a combination of public service pension and the state pension (contributory) to total 50% of final salary.
The State Pension (Contributory) is a payment which you may qualify for at 66 years of age if you have enough Irish prsi social insurance contributions. The ‘New flexible pension arrangements' for people applying for State Pension (Contributory), will be introduced in January 2024. People can defer applying for the contributory state pension between 66 and 70 for a number of reasons, but to be truly flexible shouldn’t it have also included CNER allowing people to retire earlier than age 66, same as public servants?
Employees generally pay full prsi stamps and can start at 16 years of age to pay prsi stamps until they are 66. That is 50 years service completed at 66 if you start working at 16 and in a lot of cases it is physically demanding work. This can take its toll on employee health especially as we get older. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that some employees may want to retire earlier on the state contributory pension, especially if they have 40 years service before they are 66, same as the public servant?
Even the government acknowledge that 40 years service is enough! They currently use 2 methods of calculating future contributory state pension entitlement, the old yearly average method and the newer Total Contributions Approach (TCA). Under the Yearly Average Method of calculating state pension, it is 48 stamps per year, while under the Total Contributions Approach (TCA), someone must have 2080 prsi contributions, equivalent to 40 years service.
Is the state discriminating between public sector employees and private sector employees on the grounds of age by not treating all employees equal in terms of applying for Cost Neutral Early Retirement?
The State Pension (Contributory) is a payment which you may qualify for at 66 years of age if you have enough Irish prsi social insurance contributions. The ‘New flexible pension arrangements' for people applying for State Pension (Contributory), will be introduced in January 2024. People can defer applying for the contributory state pension between 66 and 70 for a number of reasons, but to be truly flexible shouldn’t it have also included CNER allowing people to retire earlier than age 66, same as public servants?
Employees generally pay full prsi stamps and can start at 16 years of age to pay prsi stamps until they are 66. That is 50 years service completed at 66 if you start working at 16 and in a lot of cases it is physically demanding work. This can take its toll on employee health especially as we get older. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that some employees may want to retire earlier on the state contributory pension, especially if they have 40 years service before they are 66, same as the public servant?
Even the government acknowledge that 40 years service is enough! They currently use 2 methods of calculating future contributory state pension entitlement, the old yearly average method and the newer Total Contributions Approach (TCA). Under the Yearly Average Method of calculating state pension, it is 48 stamps per year, while under the Total Contributions Approach (TCA), someone must have 2080 prsi contributions, equivalent to 40 years service.
Is the state discriminating between public sector employees and private sector employees on the grounds of age by not treating all employees equal in terms of applying for Cost Neutral Early Retirement?