Defined Benefit (DB) Pensions in the Private Sector
There are effectively two types in operation in Ireland today. People who started their service in the public sector after the 1st of January 2013 and people who started before then.
The Single Public Service Pension Scheme is Ireland’s standard, career-average defined benefit pension scheme for public servants who started their pensionable employment on or after January 1, 2013. It generates retirement benefits based on a member’s salary and service throughout their entire public service career, not just their final salary. Members make regular contributions to the scheme, which build up annual retirement benefit credits, with their value uprated annually by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Anyone who started their public sector service before the 1st of January 2013 is going to be a member of a superannuation scheme that is either departmental occupational or employer specific.. These are also extremely complex as there are Varying rules in place regarding scheme eligibility and calculation of benefits. To that end we are acknowledging that it would be impossible to try and represent all of this on one particular page.
Our advice for all Public Sector workers is to contact the relevant superannuation department of your branch of government. They will be able to give you a benefit statement relating to your particular grade and service and also offer advice regarding options such as Notional Service Purchase (NSP’s) and AVC’s.
