Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

408. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline the work undertaken by her Department to date to develop proposals to benchmark rates of pension payments to gross average industrial earnings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29222/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As part of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, Government committed to finalising an approach for the benchmarking and indexation of pension payments.

Last September, I announced a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system. The measures are in response to the recommendations from the Commission on Pensions and represent the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system.

As part of this, a smoothed earnings method to calculating a benchmarked/indexed rate of State Pension payments will be introduced as an input to the annual budget process and will be submitted to Government in September each year, commencing this year.

It references published CSO earnings statistics – calculating 34% of average earnings (excluding irregular earnings and overtime) and referencing the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) to calculate a price adjusted rate.