Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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27. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to review the practice of adding years of reckonable service for pension purposes in the case of retiring public servants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9444/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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In case there is some confusion on the matter, I want to state clearly that the circumstances whereby a retiring civil or public servant may benefit from an award of added years of reckonable service for the purposes of calculating superannuation benefits are very limited.

Professional Added Years Schemes:

These schemes apply to certain professional, technical and specialist posts in both the Civil and Public Service.  Subject to certain conditions, they provide for the granting of added years in cases where the minimum essential requirements of a competition are such that they would prohibit a candidate from entering the civil/public service in sufficient time to acquire maximum service and, by extension, the candidate would be unable to accrue maximum superannuation benefits.

There is, for example, a specific provision within the Local Government superannuation arrangements to award professional added years to officers employed in certain specified professional grades. Added years could also be applied at the discretion of the Governing Bodies of a number of Universities but these discretions have since transferred to the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform acting jointly under Section 11 of the Financial Measures Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009 - the legislation that provided for the transfer of the relevant pension funds to the National Pension Reserve Fund.

Ill-Health/Death in Service:

Added years may be granted in the Civil and Public Service in cases of retirement on the grounds of ill-health. Added years may also be granted where a Survivors pension is being awarded in circumstances where the civil or public servant dies while still in service.

Section 6 of the Superannuation Act 1909 and Sections 6 and 7 of the Superannuation and Pensions Act 1963

These set out rules governing the early retirement of Civil Servants as a result of abolition of office or for the purpose of facilitating improvements in order to effect greater efficiency and economy in the organisation of a Department. Section 6 of the 1963 Act provides for the granting of added years.   In the wider Public Service these provisions serve as guidelines in dealing with similar cases. 

Secretaries General/ City & County Managers

The provisions of the 1909 and 1963 Acts may also apply to Secretaries General at the end of their contracts, with similar provisions applying to City & County Managers under the Local Government Superannuation Scheme. However as the Deputy is aware I have already reviewed the practice of awarding added years to retiring Secretaries General and City & County Managers.  

The Government agreed to my proposal on 25^th October 2011 to end this practice for any Secretary-General appointed after that date.  Subsequently - in conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government - legislation was passed in 2012, (S.I. 291 of 2012) ending the automatic entitlement to added years for retiring City and County Managers appointed after July 26^th 2012.

Single Scheme:

The Deputy may also wish to note that the Single Pension Scheme for the Public Service ("Single Scheme") which came into effect from 1 January 2013 removes entirely the concept of added years for any new entrant who joins the public service from that date.