Nearly 77,000 retired public servants can look forward to pension increases averaging about £300 a year, after the Government decided to raise pension payments in line with recent public sector pay deals. The amounts received by the pensioners will vary considerably, according to the range of pay deals agreed by the Government. The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said public servants who retired before restructuring pay agreements were agreed under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW) will now get prorata increases in their pensions.
The Minister said the issues involved in restoring the link between pay increases and pensions had been "very complex". The difficulty was caused by the variety of restructuring deals struck under the PCW.
He said the cost will be £23 million a year. Back payments totalling £23 million are also due to the vast majority of the retired public servants.
