Dozens of pensioners formerly employed in education and training boards (ETBs) face being asked to repay tens of thousands of euro in “significant” pension overpayments.
An internal report from the Department of Education shows almost €774,000 has been overpaid to 32 individuals – with a maximum overpayment of €108,173.
On average, the pensioners have been overpaid by €24,187. According to a report drawn up by officials for Minister for Education Helen McEntee, the pensioners affected are “at least aged in their late 70s; or even their 80s or 90s”.
ETBs are statutory education authorities that manage and operate community national schools, post-primary schools and further education colleges, among others.
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Because the payments have been ongoing for a “significant number of years” – in some instances over 15 years – the report outlines that “the values of the gross overpayments have accumulated very significantly over this time period”.
The report, from May, outlines that each ETB is to notify pensioners that they are to be placed on a revised pension rate of pay as soon as practicable. It outlines that “the affected pensioners, in most ETBs, are not aware of this matter yet”.
It is the second time this year an issue relating to incorrect payments of public sector pensions has emerged.
The department said it is not in a position to confirm if the pensioners had been contacted or notified of any recoupment plan for fear of identifying people involved.
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“These communications will need to be handled sensitively and with the greatest empathy by the ETBs in question not least considering the age cohort of ETB pensioners that are involved,” the report states.
It outlined that at the time of writing, overpayments continued to accrue in some cases on a fortnightly basis.
The issue occurred after incorrect instructions regarding the level of pension payments were issued to the National Shared Services Office, which provides services on payroll and pensions matters to public service bodies, by ETBs or local authorities.
“If a retiree had pensionable and non-pensionable allowances, then these were just added together with the pensioner’s base pension to give an overall value,” the report states.
It says it will be necessary to seek the recoupment of the overpayment. The report states the department is seeking legal advice on this and whether any statute of limitations can be applied, as well as whether the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will sanction a full or partial write-off.
However, it notes: “It should be noted, that it is highly unlikely that a full or partial write-off would be allowed by [the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform] in light of previous communications with that department in relation to previous historical overpayment amounts accumulated.”
Informed sources in the education sector said there was little or no awareness of problems relating to pensions in the ETB sector.
Sources said if the issue related to staff who had allowances in addition to basic salary, it could potentially affect principals or deputy principals or staff who came into the training sector from other areas.
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The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was told about the issue in March of this year, shortly before it confirmed errors in payments to retirees including some government ministers and senior civil servants.
The Government said earlier this year that a check would have to be made in relation to about 13,000 retirees who were in receipt of a pension with an allowance component.
The office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, told the trade union Forsa in late August that a review had found that within this group there could be as many as 3,000 people who could be due a refund. “At the moment, there is no indication that any of the people impacted will have any over-payments,” the letter said.
