Pensions of 13,000 ex-civil servants being checked for errors, with one potentially owing €280,000
A pool of 13,000 retired civil servants, as well as current and former Government ministers, are to have their pension deductions checked after 'serious and systemic operational issues' were identified at the State office that handles pension payments.
Minister for Public Expenditure
Jack Chambers
revealed errors at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) on Tuesday, insisting the State will recoup any money owed.
One former senior civil servant could owe as much as €280,000 as a result of the errors.
The cohort of 13,000 former civil servants were all in work-share arrangements. Not all are necessarily affected.
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It is believed most current Government ministers will owe money to the State due to errors in their pension deductions, although some may be due some money back. Others are unaffected.
Expected sums owed by current ministers range from hundreds of euro to just above €30,000. Other ministers may be owed hundreds or up to about €20,000.
The issue also affects pension deductions for ministers in previous Governments.
There is a third group of 30 former senior civil servants who are affected and, while some will owe as little as a few hundred euro, one individual is believed to owe €280,000 as a result of the NSSO error.
Mr Chambers said the NSSO has not yet been able to establish the full scale of the issues or the number of people affected. His department is in 'ongoing engagement' with the office that provides payroll and pensions services to public bodies and Government departments.
Mr Chambers, who updated the Cabinet on the situation on Tuesday, said the errors 'span different time periods and have been detected in different ways'.
They have arisen from 'administrative errors' in the NSSO and were 'not the fault of any of the individuals impacted', he said.
One issue, going back 20 years, relates to the 'miscalculation and underpayment' of pensions for some work-sharing civil service retirees who were in receipt of allowances.
The NSSO is seeking to establish the scale of the problem.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Chambers could not offer an estimate for how much the State owes or is due.
An external audit will focus on validating all aspects of the issues identified and to identify any further issues, he said.
Mr Chambers said a pool of 13,000 retired civil servants will have their pensions checked, 'although the number affected is likely to be smaller than this' as not all will have anomalies.
He said anyone with queries about work-sharing pensions can contact the NSSO's customer contact centre.
Mr Chambers said the issue affecting current and former ministers relates to 'superannuation deductions and additional superannuation contributions with respect to salaries, allowances or gifted income'.
It is understood part of the issue arises from the treatment of part of ministers' income returned to the state in recent years and how their pension deductions were calculated as a result.
Mr Chambers said the NSSO is contacting affected people and will 'outline the issue as it relates to them and make arrangements for the recoupment of any monies owed or to issue refunds as appropriate'.
'As these are personal matters relating to individuals' pay, I'm not in a position to disclose the individual amounts,' he said.
Mr Chambers said the third issue, affecting 30 identified cases, concerns the administration of chargeable excess tax and withholding tax for senior grade civil service pensions.
Mr Chambers said the issues at the NSSO are 'completely unacceptable' and must be corrected 'as a matter of urgency'.
The Minister has appointed Derek Moran, former Department of Finance secretary general, as the new chair of the NSSO's advisory board.
He has asked Mr Moran to 'immediately' commission an external forensic audit of the NSSO systems and processes. Mr Chambers has separately requested 'a broad external review of the NSSO's capacity and structures' to ensure it is equipped to fulfil its responsibilities for the future.
Mr Chambers said the legislation underpinning the NSSO and its governance will need to be amended to ensure greater accountability and oversight.Such legislation is 'being drafted'.
He said the NSSO has advised him it is not aware of any further issues at this time.
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