Pensions | Maximising your pension benefits
Maximising your pension benefits
Maximising your pension benefits on the Single Scheme
The Purchase Facility allows people who don’t have a long career in the public service to boost their retirement benefits under the Single Scheme.
It may suit you if you joined the public service in mid-career, or if you have taken career breaks or other periods of extended unpaid leave.
With the Transfer Facility, you can (if you’re a Single Scheme member with transfer values from other Revenue-approved retirement schemes and PRSAs) transfer those entitlements into the Single Scheme.
Learn more about this facility and see a sample statement of Single Scheme retirement benefits.
Cost-neutral early retirement
You can retire at 55 on an actuarially reduced (or cost-neutral) basis. Your benefits will be reduced by reference to your age at resignation in line with actuarial tables approved by the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
If you are medically certified as being incapable for work over time, you may avail of immediate payment of pension benefits accrued to point of retirement with no actuarial reduction, if you have more than two years’ service.
If that happens, the pension and lump sum payable may be
enhanced by the award of additional referable amounts, subject to certain limits. Your career to date and expected career to retirement is taken into account. If you have less than two years’ service at the time of retiring, you get a gratuity of 8.5% of pensionable remuneration per year of service.
If you die before you retire, your estate will get a lump sum equal to twice your annual pensionable remuneration at time of death.
Survivor’s pension
If you die, half your pension is payable to your spouse or civil partner.
If you have one, two or three eligible children*, a sixth of your pension is payable per child.
If you have four or more eligible children, half your pension divided by the number of children is payable per child. These children’s pensions are doubled if the non-member spouse is also deceased.
*A child must be less than 16 years of age or, if receiving full-time education or training, 21 or 22 years of age depending on the scheme. However, subject to certain conditions, no age-limit applies where a child is incapable of maintaining himself or herself because of mental or physical infirmity.
The disputes resolution procedure deals with claims or disputes where someone believes they have sustained financial loss or there is any dispute of fact or law in relation to something done by a person responsible for managing the Single Scheme.
If you have a pension-related issue, talk to us at DCU People. If your issues are not solved, please refer to the Dispute Resolution Procedure
If this does not solve your issue, you can appeal your case to the HEA and/or the Pensions Ombudsman.
DCU Superannuation Scheme
Maximising your pension benefits on DCU Superannuation Scheme
If you join DCU from another organisation that participates in the Public Service Pension Transfer Network, we can usually arrange to transfer your pension rights to DCU.
If you have retained pension benefits with a previous employer, DCU can see if it’s possible to convert the ‘transfer value’ into DCU pension years and transfer those years into the DCU Superannuation Scheme.
You may be able to buy more service years so you can retire at 65 (and/or age 60 if you joined before 1 Apr 2004) if you fulfil certain criteria. The cost of buying added years is determined by actuarial tables approved by the Minister for the Public Service.
Find out more in the Pensions Authority's booklet: Purchase of Notional Service (PNS).
If you previously worked in a temporary and non-pensionable role at DCU (or with another participant organisation in the public service transfer network), you may be able to have this service counted for pension purposes by paying appropriate contributions.
These contributions are levied on your salary at the time you decide to use this option.
You can pay additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to increase your eventual benefits or facilitate your retirement at 60 or 65.
Cornmarket manages the DCU-approved AVC scheme through Irish Life. For financial advice on making AVCs, you can meet a Cornmarket consultant.
Learn more about AVCs
- Watch Cornmarket’s 4-minute quick explainer video.
- See the Pensions Authority Summary of public service AVC options.
- Contact Cornmarket
David Byrne, Senior Retirement Investment Consultant
01 408 4058, or 087 377 8273 david.byrne2@cornmarket.ie
Cost-neutral early retirement:
With this option you can retire early with immediate payment of your pension benefits. This is subject to actuarial reduction to take account of the early payment of your lump sum and the longer period over which your pension would be paid.
Can I retire early?
If you’re a non-new entrant (meaning you joined before 1 Apr 2004) with a preserved pension age of 60, you can retire early from age 50 with an actuarial reduction.
If you joined after 1 Apr 2004 (meaning you are classed as a new entrant) and have a preserved pension age of 65, you can retire from age 55 with an actuarial reduction.
Discover the full details of the early retirement scheme.
If you become seriously ill, you may be able to retire early, once you have completed at least five years’ pensionable service.
If you retire due to ill health, your pensionable service will, subject to a maximum of 40 years, be counted as the aggregate of (1) and (2) as follows:-
- Pensionable service completed to date of retirement
and
- A period of added service calculated as follows:
- If you have between five and 10 years of actual service at retirement, you will be allowed an equivalent amount of added service. This can’t exceed the difference between your age at retirement and age 65
- If you have between 10 and 20 years of actual service at retirement, you’ll be allowed the better of:
- An amount of service equal to the difference between your actual reckonable service and 20 years. This can’t exceed the difference between your age at retirement and age 65
or
- Six years and 243 days. The added service can’t exceed the difference between your age at retirement and age 60. If you’re over 60 at retirement, you can’t benefit from this section.
- If you have more than 20 years of actual service at retirement, you'll be allowed to add whichever is less than six years and 243 days, or the difference between their age at retirement and age 60. If you’re over age 60 at retirement, you can’t benefit under this section.
If you die before you retire, your legal personal representative will receive a death gratuity. This will be the greater of:
(a) your retiring annual salary
or
(b) 3/80ths of your retiring salary for each year of pensionable service you have worked, subject to a maximum of 1.5 times your retiring salary.
If you’re married, your spouse’s and children's pensions will be calculated by reference to the pension you would have received if you had continued in pensionable employment up to 65.
This pension starts one month after the date of death. The full salary is paid for one month after death if the spouse's pension is payable.
A spouse's pension may be paid from the death of the deceased until the spouse dies.
Pensions are calculated as follows:
- Spouse only: half pension for the spouse
- Spouse and one child: half pension for the spouse and one-sixth pension for the child
- Spouse and two children: half pension for the spouse and one-third pension for the children
- Spouse and three or more children: half pension for spouse and half pension for children
- One child only: 1/3rd pension for the child
- Two or more children: half pension for the children.
To qualify for the children’s pension, your child must be less than 16 or, if they’re in full-time education or training, 21 or 22 depending on the scheme.
No age limit applies if a child can’t maintain themselves because of a mental or physical infirmity, although some conditions apply.
The first thing to do is to contact DCU People to ask about using the procedure. You can use the disputes resolution procedure. This deals with claims or disputes where someone believes they have sustained financial loss or with any dispute of fact or law relating to something done by a person responsible for managing the Superannuation Scheme.
If your issues are not solved, please review the Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) procedure for pension appeals.