James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

336. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to examine a case of incorrect ASC contributions causing debt issues for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36814/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I refer to the Deputy’s question regarding one of your constituents and the incorrect application of ASC to their pay.

My officials have made enquiries with KWETB and I am informed that the following is the position in respect of this matter.

The Teacher’s employment commenced with KWETB on 1 Sept 2019. On commencement of her employment with KWETB, the Teacher was put into the Single Pension Scheme and charged the rate of ASC appropriate to that scheme. Subsequent to the commencement of her employment with KWETB, the teacher submitted a statement of service, with past teaching experience, and her pay was increased by placing her on a higher point of the incremental teacher payscale.

However, KWETB made an error in not moving the teacher to the correct pension scheme commensurate with her previous teaching experience i.e. the pre-April 2004 pension scheme at that time.

This error was not realised by KWETB until late 2023, when the teacher made enquiries regarding her pension.

Once the error came to light, the teacher was moved into the correct pension scheme and this pension scheme attracts a higher rate of ASC to be paid by the teacher through their payroll.

Accordingly, the Teacher’s ASC charge immediately increased in her ongoing salary payments and KWETB then calculated the amount of ASC which had been underpaid from 1 September 2019. Following detailed calculations by KWETB, these calculations showed that the total underpayment of ASC for this period was € 11,497.90.

The HR Manager in KWETB met with the teacher on two occasions and outlined the position and also outlined that the ETB were legally obliged to recoup this underpayment of ASC from the teacher.

The HR Manager in KWETB apologised profusely to the teacher for the error that was made and for the hardship that this was causing for the teacher. This apology was made both verbally and in writing to the teacher.

KWETB outlined to the teacher that the ETB were obliged to recoup this money from the teacher, as it is a statutory charge and a benefit is accruing to the teacher in the form of their salary and future pension payments including their future pension lump sum payment.

KWETB engaged with the Teacher to confirm this and laid out a number of flexible options on how the recoupment could be made to reduce the financial hardship for the teacher.

I am informed by my officials that KWETB and the teacher have now come to an agreement on how this recoupment will be made, and the duration of this recoupment, and this process of recoupment has now commenced.