Page 18 - Group Insurance and Retirement Benefit IC 83 E- Book

usually happens where no specific funding is being provided in advance for pension

increases.
Sometimes, increases in pensions are paid, not from the pension fund, but purely from the

income of the employer. In this case, these increases would be likely to cease if the
employer closed down. The Pensions Act Disclosure Regulations require that retiring

members are informed if their increases are not guaranteed.
In many Public Sector schemes, it is customary for pensions to be increased in line with

any changes which take place in the salary appropriate to the post formerly held by a

retired member, although many non-standard increases, such as productivity related pay
increases, may be excluded. This method of treating pensions post retirement is called

―pay parity‖.

How soon may I retire?

Retirement before normal retirement age is usually subject to the consent of the employer
and/or the trustees. The Revenue Commissioners will permit a pension to be paid at any

age if it is due to ill-health. Otherwise, the minimum age at which a person can receive a
pension is normally age 50.A member who retires in advance of normal pension age

could expect a reduction in pension benefits and these reductions can be quite large if the

period from the date of retirement to normal pension age is long. The reduction takes
place because

● fewer contributions have been paid and those which have been paid have been invested

for a shorter time;
● the payment of the pension starts earlier; the average expectation of life is longer,

leading to a longer period of payment of benefits.

If early retirement takes place due to ill-health, sometimes a scheme will give better
benefits than would be paid on early retirement in normal health.