GOVERNMENT ministers are among thousands of civil servants who have been accidentally overpaid or underpaid in their pensions in an embarrassing series of gaffes.
Three separate mess ups at the National Shared Services Office has resulted in thousands of civil servants being either underpaid or overpaid in their pensions over the past 20 years.
One of these mistakes relates to pension contributions and deductions in to ministerial salaries and allowances.
Due to an administration error, a number of current and former Government ministers have been caught up in the mistake with some Ministers owed refunds of up to €20,000.
Other Ministers and senior civil servants will have to repay the State amounts ranging between the low hundreds up to €30,000.
The NSSO began the process of contacting Ministers and former Ministers today to inform them about the mistake.
Another gaffe relates to the administration of Chargeable Excess Tax and Witholding Tax on pensions for senior level civil servants which was not correctly applied.
There are 30 of these cases that need to be corrected with one person mistakenly overpaid up to €280,000.
A third mess up by the NSSO relates to the miscalculation and under payment of pensions for some civil servants who were work sharing in their careers and spans back 20 years.
Some 13,000 civil servants are having their cases audited to find out how much they need to be paid or owe the State over the mishap.
Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers was made aware of a possible issue in late March while the full scale of the issue was being investigated.
The Fianna Fail TD today informed the Cabinet about the mess up which he described as “absolutely unacceptable.”
FURIOUS AT MISTAKES
The mistakes were not the fault of any of the individuals impacted and are instead completely on the NSSO.
The Minister is furious at the mistakes and has ordered the CEO of the NSSO to correct the matter immediately while also ordering a full external audit of the State pension body.
He said: “The issues that have been brought to my attention by the NSSO are completely unacceptable.
“The NSSO has responsibility for the essential function of the provision of pay and pensions to public and civil servants and it has failed in this fundamental duty.
“I have instructed the CEO of the NSSO that the multiple errors must be corrected by the NSSO as a matter of urgency, particularly regarding the treatment of retirees who had been on a work-sharing pattern in the civil service.
“I am committed to fully and comprehensively addressing this matter.”
