Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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170. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position in relation to the linkage between the pay of serving teachers and the pensions of retired teachers in the context of the Public Service Stability Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3757/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I would advise the Deputy that the pension increase policy that is currently in place in respect of the pre-existing public service pension schemes (i.e. not including the Single Pension Scheme) represents a time-limited, conditions-bound return to the non-statutory, pay-linked method of pension adjustment which prevailed until the onset of the financial emergency.

Under that policy, increases applied to serving staff over the course of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), are passed on to those pensions awarded under pre-existing public service schemes where the salary on which the pension is based does not exceed the salary of serving staff with the same grade and scale point, after the pay increase has been applied. If it qualifies, the pension is eligible for an increase to the extent that this will ensure alignment with the pay of serving staff.

The current pension increase policy was agreed by the Government in the context of its commitments made under the PSSA, which runs until the end of 2020.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Single Pension Scheme introduced for new entrants to the public service from 1 January 2013 onwards is a career average pension scheme which provides that both the referable amounts that are accrued by serving staff while in employment, as well as pensions in payment, are uprated in line with changes in the consumer price index.