Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the NSSO that a preserved pension refers to the pension entitlements due to an officer who resigns from the Civil Service prior to reaching their minimum pension age. Once the officer has met the required vesting period at the time of their departure, their pension benefits are accrued up to the date of their resignation and are 'preserved' or 'deferred' until they reach that age.

The National Shared Services Office (NSSO) aim to have a preserved pension processed within 3 months of receiving the application and within three months of pension commencement date. There are a number of factors which impact the three month processing target. For example it is dependent on the pensioner’s former department, or departments, being able to locate their personnel file and deliver it to the NSSO within this time-line. If delivery of this file is delayed it can impact the NSSO’s processing timelines for preserved pension requests.

The Deputy should also note that there has been an increase in retirements across the Civil Service on foot of the last round of pay increases under the Building Momentum agreement. This increase of retirements has resulted in delays in the NSSO’s timelines for all pension related processing and requests. This has been compounded by natural attrition and staff churn in the NSSO which is in common with the rest of the civil service and labour market. The NSSO is continuing to proactively address delays and meet its commitments to its customers. Following a business case from the NSSO, an increase to the staff compliment working on retirement cases has been agreed and a recruitment campaign to increase the NSSO’s staff complement working on retirement cases is currently underway.

The NSSO cannot comment on individual case raised and but I can confirm to the Deputy that NSSO have advised they are currently in contact with the individual referred to in your question to provide an update on their case.