Post 1995 Supplementary pension query

Thanks very much, Ill look into this, it might be worth doing it in any event, you will never know how they might change the rules in the future.

I have got my first couple of payslips and all going as expected. The supplementary pension should be sorted next week as mentioned. With the service I have, I checked the situation with JP vs OSP.

I will get annually OSP of 11,985 based on current pay. I would get JB of 12,064 (not counting bonus weeks etc). So the difference for me is very small. I would be reverting to OSP after 9 months anyway.

Great to have the freedom not to have to sign / collect pension in person. Heading for a couple of short breaks before Christmas which would have been difficult with out the good work getting the new OSP arrangements.

If you have more than about 33 years service, the OSP payment will exceed the JB.

I will be working a couple of days in November to finish off something. This will reduce the OSP by a couple of days, I might post on my experience of the process, others might find it useful.

found the information

To sign on for unemployment credits, you must have paid or credited contributions in either of the last 2 tax years and be:

  • Unemployed
  • Available and capable of work
  • Genuinely seeking work

Credited social insurance contributions

A credited social insurance contribution is a contribution given to you and recorded on your social insurance record. This page explains the rules on credited contributions for students, carers, homemakers, voluntary development workers and people who retire early.
www.citizensinformation.ie
 
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DingDing said:
it might be worth doing it in any event, you will never know how they might change the rules in the future.
Click to expand...
This is definitely a good insurance policy.

In my case I was advised by a DSP staff member to continue signing on for credits alongside getting class S from my ARF.

This was about 8 years ago. This turned out to be excellent advice as without the credits I would have missed out on qualifying for BP 65.
 
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You've had a better experience than I've had so far. I retired from HSE in March and after about 6 or 7 weeks of Job Seekers Benefit, I was advised by the Social Welfare officer that if I was not actively seeking employment, I was not strictly eligible for JSB. When I discussed this with my employers pensions office I was told "Just say you are looking for work". I obviously wasn't happy with this advice. A fairly assertive email was met with a response along the lines "We would never advice anyone to say that"!

I asked Social Welfare office that they complete the form provided by my employer to state that I was not eligible for JSB. Unfortunately, the reason they gave for my ineligibility was that "The customer has requested the claim be ceased". This was then used by my employer as grounds to deny my application for OSP because I had not been deemed ineligible for reasons outside my control.

I asked Social Welfare office to rephrase my form and I resubmitted for OSP. My employer again refused on the basis of the first decision, i.e. I had not been deemed ineligible for reasons outside my control.

I have now appealed this decision. I am not particularly hopeful given that it appears the appeals/complaint is reviewed by my employer rather than an independent authority.

I intend to progress this to the Pensions Ombudsman office if necessary.

Not the best way to start my retirement! Leaves a bad taste in my mouth in relation to my employer too.
 
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Yes. I came under the 2024 circular. One of the first in my organisation. When the circular came out it made the decision for me to retire. The JB route seemed too awkward and limiting.
 
As already stated the rules have changed go back to you employer you should now get the full supplementary pension no question, asked as long as your not working. I am worried that many people are finding themselves in this silly position after having worked for so long Because of a misunderstanding.
 
I get it "automatically" from 1st August 2024. However, I have not received from May 2024 to end July 2024! The new mechanism does not permit payment for any period prior to August 2024. Employer says I did not meet the criteria as already outlined under the old scheme.
 
Unbelievable, they changed it for people leaving their employment after Aug 24. You wonder do these politicians care at all. It should be back dated to at least the start of 2024 as it had been stated for a while that the government were looking to changing it!.
It's amazing how they can change something when it suits them with a waive of a pen and still don't really understand the distress it's causing a large number of public servants!
I feel the whole scheme was a infringement on our civil liberties. There should be no penalties when you retire from you job, your pension is your pension. If you decide to work part time or full time there should not affect your pension. Your pension is not a government benefit it something you contributed to your whole life and you expected to get it.
We should organise a class action of some kind against this scheme, to my mind it break a fundamental right to work and infringes on our human rights, it's an injustice to be honest!
 
Let us know how you get on with the Pension Authority. I have heard that different JSB offices deal with it differently. Some just allow you to claim quietly with very little signings on, especially if you are a retired Garda. Others make you sign on very regularly. Shocking really, why the unions signed up to this is unbelievable.
 
Just to update, I am now getting the supplementary pension. It was backdated to when I retired and appears as a line item on my payslip.

So in my case the recent circular has been correctly applied and works. Delighted and thanks to everyone who helped.
 
Lovely Ding Dong, Wis you a happy retirement, in my case Garda post 1995 retirement in 2022, garda pensions have not applied it, are awaiting answers from DPENR if the increases can be applied from date of retirement of post 1995 members retrospectively, otherwise it will create three types of pensioners up to now ie pre 1995, post 1995 retired up to aug2024 & post 1995 from Aug 2024, so hopefully will be sorted.
 
Thats interesting, so to have done the Supplementary pension calculation based on rates at your retirement date, and play forward all the intervening pay increases. Interestingly if the state pension rate out paces pay rises which it is likely to do when you listen to the election promises. You will actually get an increase in pension when you get the state pension, and potentialy be better off than a D stamp person. In my case as I did not have 40 years service, 30 for supplementary pension, I will get an increase in my total pension payments when I reach 66. This is a correct approach as I would have paid for some of my PRSI service in other employments before joining the public service.

The issue of applying for it retrospectively probably has not come up in my former organisation yet. In some respects I was probably the test case as the first person who applied for it and completed the form.
 
You are correct Ding Ding, but like all changes some people will be left short changed.

Previously if you worked 10 years you would get the full state pension! So anyone retiring say at 55 or before would get their occupational pension and then pay a small stamp, even working 1 day a week and get the full state pension.

Now you to have to work pay 40 years of stamps to get the full state pension ( or pro rata) this you mean you could end up getting a portion of the state pension and the occupational pension. For some it works out for others it doesn't!
 
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Anyone any idea what the definition of self-employed is under the circular and any way around it. If you work for a company you just loose the supplementary pension for the days you work. If you have periods where you are self employed, perhaps an occasional weeks work now or again, how does it work. A few opportunities for short term consultancy have or are likely to arise.
 
Have been talking to a few lads who retired recently , there appears to be a shortfall in the payments , the Supplementary Pension was to bring you to the level of payment equal to a Pre 95 calculation , as per extract from the Superannuation Handbook but the payments are a few euro short of this to the tune of about 2k per year . I have sent stuff to the guys concerned .
Anybody else hear of this ?
 
There is an issue with the Supplementary pension not gaining any pay increases during the 9 months spent on Jobseekers benefit, My occupational pension received the 2,25% and 1% but no recalculation was made when the Supplementary was awarded. The equivalence that the Supplementary pension is designed to give is flawed from the start.
 
What seems to be ignored is the post 95 Pension is supposed to give you a total pension income equal to the pre 95 model , it was designed that you could not get a Contributory Old Age Pension also , hence the Coordinated pension .
 
My understanding is that at 66 I will qualify for the contributory old age pension and the Supplementary pension will stop. An "A" stamp prsi contribution costs more than the older "D" stamp so it would be reasonable to expect something from the system I paid into over my working life.
 
Thats the thing in simple terms , the post95 pension is coordinated with the Old Age Pension , your income from the State cannot exceed the Coordinated Sum .
 
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