Public sector retirement drive ‘leading to pensions errors’

THE rush to retire workers early in order to reduce the public sector wage bill is leading to errors in pension entitlement calculations, the Pensions Ombudsman has warned.

In one example of the pressure being put on human resources staff by the retirement push, 2,000 workers opted to leave the HSE under a scheme announced late last year but 17,000 asked for their pension payments to be worked out before they made a decision.

“There are a lot of difficulties in the public service and a lot of people who are perhaps finding it difficult to get things finalised because of the big rush,” said ombudsman Paul Kenny, who highlighted the issue in his annual report.