Incentivised Scheme for Early Retirment

Vienne86 thanks for that. I assume that when you say fewer than 40 years you mean years purchased for notional service
 
jacmac said:
Vienne86 thanks for that. I assume that when you say fewer than 40 years you mean years purchased for notional service
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I am not too familiar with this. I know, for example, that is it is possible to retire from Trinity on a full pension, with less than for 40 years of service (possibly 30, I think) and school teachers, for example, can retire on a full pension with only 35 years of service. I, too, enquired from HR in the university in which I work, and have been told that they have not received notification. It may be a question for the union.
 
There are old schemes that applied to certain professional grades like doctors whereby they could retire with 30 or 35 years service.

The pension scheme that operates in the universities is the same as the HSE so I would be pretty sure this scheme will be available to the universities. We haven't got the circular as yet but I expect we will have it this week.

Have you got an actual superannuation department you can contact rather than the general HR department.

I wouldn't bother with the union about pensions myself.
 

Thanks for that Becky. I think that the scheme has not yet been offered to the university sector. As things stand the only universities that would appear to meet the criteria would be UL and DCU, but it may be unusual to offer such a scheme to some institutions in a sector but not to others.
 
The scheme I was looking at was UCC's one and it seemed to be the exact same as ours - pre 95 pay 5% plus 1.5% etc. There are doctors who work in the Medical School who are on UCC's payroll but part of their contract would include sessions in the HSE so its for this reason I think the scheme will be available in the universities.
 
There are probably other sectors where there are differences in pension schemes which will have to be ironed out. I had not thought of this until Becky mentioned the HSE, which probably has a lot of old schemes to deal with. In the case of universities, they should be all on the same footing if the legislation for the state takeover of their pension schemes goes ahead, but that will take time to complete. I think one of the purposes of the present scheme is to shake as many people as possible out of the public service as quickly as possible, and certainly before the budget. It looks as if we will just have to wait a bit longer to see what happens, but if a circular crosses someone's desk, perhaps they would let us know on this forum!
 
See Post No 31 in this thread by Aonfocaleile. Thats the circular you are looking for.
 
Does the Dept of Finance issue information regarding which sectors / organisations are covered by this? That kind of info should be in the public domain as well at some stage. I wouldn't be surprised if some public service organisations are going to be economical with the info to both to reduce the long term index-linked cost of implementing the scheme and to manage the outflow of staff. Anyone know where to find a statement of the statutory obligations (if any), on organsiations to keep staff fully informed?
 


Well under EU regulations, are all employers not obliged to give that kind of info and to consult with staff reps if necessary. Mid you if you take the HSE for example, their attitude to giving information leaves a lot to be desired. Their modus operandi is to decide what to do and then call in the unions to inform them of a start date !! Partnership has gone out the window. Some local authorities are behaving similarly, and there's a distinct possibility that they might hold back info on this scheme.
 
Tentman - any idea where to find the EU regulation you refer to? Presumably, any organisation that doesn't communicate properly stands open to legal action if, as a result, staff are denied an opportunity to avail of Govt. initiatives.
 
ConK said:
Tentman - any idea where to find the EU regulation you refer to? Presumably, any organisation that doesn't communicate properly stands open to legal action if, as a result, staff are denied an opportunity to avail of Govt. initiatives.
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Its called EU Information and Consultation Directive. It imposes obligations on Employers with 50 or more Employees to abide by it. There is a very good Powerpoint presentation on it by Michael Wolfe of William Fry & Co., Solicitors on this site
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Thanks Tentman- very useful but hope I don't ever have to use it !
 
Just to keep you updated got e mail from HR this am to say that university employees are NOT eligible for this scheme. No reason given. If they get any other information from HEA they will post a notice. I suppose the question is are employees of the HEA themselves eligible?
 
Thanks, jacmac. I got a similar email from HR - they had checked with the director of finance, who would be the contact person with the HEA. I have asked my union to try and find a reason for this; they are raising it at a local meeting today and will get back to me when they hear anything.
 
Had a look at the Q&A link. Regarding calculation of the pension it states that "The pension along with 10% of the retirement lump sum, based on the salary and any
pensionable emoluments held at the date of retirement (subject to averaging where
appropriate), will be paid immediately without actuarial reduction
Anybody know how the averaging is done? Is it an average of your last three years, ten years or all of years service?

The calculation of the final lump some seems to be based upon the pay level of the current scale at the normal age of retirement; presumably that deals with erosion of the lump sum by inflation over a given period which makes the scheme (I think), fairly attractive- "incentivised" I suppose.

Wouldn't be happy that there is no right to appeal in the event of refusal - potential there for rewarding the behaviour of "deadwood" and penalising the conscientious worker who may prefer to retire at this stage.
 
My reading of it is different - is it not that the pension and lump sum is based on your salary, etc on the "incentivised" date of retirement, i.e. when one retires this year, not age 65?

If I recall, the averaging is 3 years for salary and 10 years for pensionable allowances.
 
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Gipimann- [all these great aliases ! Maybe when we've finally taken the plunge we'll all reveal our real names ]
Maybe this extract from the Q&A explains my reading - The 90% balance of your lump sum will be based on the amount of service your
pension is based on, and on the salary scale point applicable on the date you reach your normal preserved pension age. It will be paid on reaching that age and will be subject to the taxation provisions in force on the date your application under this Scheme was approved.

Or did I misread? Wouldn't be at all surprised.
 
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