Early retirement

T

twoshortplan

Guest
I work for a VEC with 31 years teaching service and 5 years army service added for pension purposes (36 years total). I am aged 58 and I contacted my HR department re early retirement. I was told that because I have not been on point 25 of the pay scale for ten years I would not be eligible for retirement until I was 60, or I could go now but would not receive any payments until I reach 60. I can't find any reference to this in government documentation. Are they correct?
 
One option you do have is an actuarial reduced pension. If you retire at age 58 you receive a pension 2 years before the official retirement age of 60. The cost of these two extra years of pension payments will be factored into the amount of pension you receive, thereby reducing it. It also has some impact on the lump sum payable.

VEC pensions can be complex. I suggest you put your questions in writing and send by registered post to your VEC. That should ensure you get a carefully researched reply.
 
Twoshort,

The first option the VEC have advised is known as preservation of benefits, you would not get your pension and lump sum paid until age 60.
Homeboy is referring to Cost Neutral Early Retirement (I am presuming it is available in VEC), where retiring before 60 and taking this option as advised, would mean that you would receive actuarially reduced benefits straight away.
The other option you have obviously is not retiring until age 60, however if this means that you do not retire until after 31st Dec 2011 your benefits will be based on pay since paycuts.
Evening
 
I thought that the 31st Dec 2011 was disgarded after the acceptance of the Croke Park agreement. OP there is a calculator on this website:http://www.cspensions.gov.ie/. You can have a look at all the different scenarios that might apply to you. You can also calculate how much it would cost you to buy enough Notional Service to bring you up to 40yrs service. Note that this option is costly. But may be useful to know in advance of any final decision. If you work for another 2 yrs, then you will only have to buy 2yrs. If you decide to go down that road, you should get it fully clarified in writing BEFORE you make a decision to retire, as the payment arrangements have to be agreed before you go.There is a lot of info on that website listed above.
 
I understood that the Croke Park Draft agreement provided at Clause 1.17 that
“There will be an extension of the period by a year within which the January 2010 pay reductions will be disregarded for the purposes of calculating Public Service pension entitlements”
This commitment effectively extended that period of disregard to the end of 2011 only.​

Anyone who are thinking of retiring but were happy to wait until the end of next year based on Croke park, should now seriously consider whether or not the agreement will last much longer. In my personal opinion (I am not a civil servant or have any insider knowledge), I believe that the deal will collapse or government will activate the get out clause before the end of the year.​
 
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