Pension errors may cost ministers and civil servants tens of thousands

Thousands of retired public servants and ministers face repayments or refunds after payroll errors span over two decades

Jack Chambers. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Government has revealed a calamitous series of “administrative errors” that will see retired senior civil servants and government ministers asked to pay back tens of thousands of euros for inaccurate pension deductions.

Some 13,000 retired civil servants are set to have their pension deductions checked for potential incorrect payments amid “serious issues” flagged by a State body, with 30 cases identified where the liability ranges as high as €280,000.

The issues affect Ministers who served as far back as 2019, and could go back further, meaning at least the last three Governments are impacted. 

In the majority of cases for ministers, the inaccuracies mean money is owed by those impacted. For the 13,000 civil servants, however, there may have been underpayment of pension entitlements in many cases.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers brought the issue to Cabinet on Tuesday, having first been made aware of problems at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) in March. Further details outlining the potential impact of the inaccuracies were given to Mr Chambers last week.

Mr Chambers said the mistakes were administrative errors and not the fault of any of the individuals impacted.

“At this point, the NSSO has not yet been able to establish the full scale of the issues, or the number of individuals impacted,” Mr Chambers said.

Those impacted include retired senior civil servants, civil service retirees with work-sharing patterns, as well as current and former government ministers.

“A scoping exercise is currently underway by the NSSO to establish the scale of the problem," Mr Chambers said. 

"A pool of 13,000 retirees will have to be checked although the number affected is likely to be much smaller.

“To be clear, this does not imply that all 13,000 will have anomalies, but all 13,000 will be checked.” 

The issue affecting former and current ministers means some office holders have had incorrect application of pension deductions.

The NSSO will contact those affected to make arrangements to either recoup monies owed or issue refunds.

“As these are personal matters relating to individual workers’ pay, I am not in a position to disclose individual amounts,” Mr Chambers said.

“However, the amounts range from hundreds of euros to the low €30,000s in terms of monies to be recouped. A number of ministers are due refunds ranging from hundreds of euros up to the low €20,000s. Some are unaffected.” 

He added that what has arisen is “completely unacceptable” and that multiple errors must be corrected as a “matter of urgency”.

An external, forensic audit has been ordered into the NSSO’s systems and processes while a “broad external review” will also be conducted on the NSSO’s capacity and structures.

Furthermore, new legislation is being drafted to ensure “greater accountability and oversight”, Mr Chambers said.

A government source described the issue as "an absolute mess" and said the reaction at Cabinet was one of "shock".

"It has broken trust in the system and trust in our ability to pay people correctly," one minister said.

Stating that much of the concern was for the 13,000 staff who may not have received their full entitlements, he added: "I don't know what kind of procedures were in place, this was going on for 20 years. 

"People who retired have not got their proper pensions and people who have passed away may not have received their full entitlements."

"This is massive," another senior minister said, adding that the State may have to pay out a significant amount to the 13,000 mainly lower paid retired civil servants whose entitlements will now be looked at.

The NSSO said that any retirees that need amendments to their previously calculated pension will have it done “in due course”.

“It is not possible to give definitive timelines at this point but customers can rest assured that they will be contacted, where any change to their entitlements is required,” it said.