Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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25. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she expects pesons who are forced to retire from the civil service at 65 to claim jobseeker's benefit or allowance until they can receive the pension at 66 and 67. [25718/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2011 provides that State pension age will be increased gradually to 68 years. This will begin in 2014 with the abolition of the State pension (transition) thereby standardising State pension age for all at 66 years. The State pension age will be further increased to 67 years in 2021 and to 68 years in 2028. These changes apply to all fully insured employees, including some public servants. Public servants (including civil servants) who are due to retire aged 65 in January 2014 will be able to draw their occupational public service pension at age 65. However, for those public servants (including civil servants) who are fully insured, their public service pensions (and contributions) are, like many occupational pension schemes, integrated (or co-ordinated) with social welfare benefits. This means the occupational pension paid is based on the assumption that the pensioner also receives the State pension (transition or contributory). Where this does not happen, a discretionary supplementary pension may be payable under the relevant public service pension scheme to bridge the gap.

In this instance, a supplementary pension is only payable where the individual, through no fault of their own, does not qualify for social welfare benefit or qualifies at less than the maximum personal rate. It is, therefore, necessary to claim any available social welfare benefits in order to receive a supplementary pension. This situation is not new and already applies to public sector workers who have a retirement age below 65. For other workers, the main social welfare payments available to those who leave employment before pension age are jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance. Persons aged between 65 and 66 years who qualify for a jobseeker's payment are generally entitled to receive payment up to the date on which they reach pensionable age (66 years).

It should be noted that until the 1970s, the standard age for receipt of State pension was 70 years of age. Increasing longevity and significant improvements in health status mean that people can work longer to support themselves in retirement. Raising State pension age and the abolition of the State pension (transition) is a necessary step in ensuring the sustainability of pensions into the future. The recently published OECD report on the Review of the Irish Pension System confirms that reforms are necessary if we are to continue to put pension provision on a sustainable footing given the changes in demographics, the deficit in the Social Insurance Fund and the difficult fiscal situation.