Can I continue to teach until I am 66?

Please help me clarify “normal date of retirement”. I have been teaching for the past eight years, initially part-time and now full-time. I received a CID (Contract of indefinite duration in late 2011). The CID states that “subject to the normal date of retirement in the employment”, etc.

I will be 65 in August 2015 and wonder if I am obliged to retire then or if I can continue working until I reach pension age at 66. I have received a variety of responses to queries about retirement date.

I wonder what the reference to retirement issues on some sites uses the phrase: “came into the system”. What does that mean – is it the date I first started teaching or the date the CID was issued?

Mr J.S., email

Having trawled through the website of the Department of Education and Science, various bits of legislation governing both employment contracts and teachers’ pension provision, and the sites of the main teaching unions, I can see what you mean about the confusion that can arise on this issue of retirement from the profession.

So I put it to the Department directly. And the answer is, essentially, that it depends ...

I’m not poking fun here. The thrust of the Department’s response is that the contract of employment of a secondary school teacher is between the teacher and the management authority of their school, not the Department. Clearly, the wording of the contract will determine the retirement date. The confusion arises because, where retirement issues are concerned, there are three categories into which currently serving teachers could fall.

First up is those who have been in “continuous public service employment” since before April 1st, 2004.

For these teachers, there is a compulsory retirement age after which you get no pensionable benefit and it is the end of the school year during which the teacher turns 65.

As you probably know, the “end” of the school year is August 31st, even if school is out long before this date.

There is an “exceptional” provision which applies only to people in this category – teachers with uninterrupted service dating back to before September 1st, 2001, who happen to be born in August, can continue to accrue pension rights to the end of the following school year (i.e. to the end of the month in which they turn 66).

This threw me when I first came across it as I thought it might have been carried forward to new legislation and be relevant to you but that is not the case. It applies only to teachers employed before September 1st, 2001. Apparently the reason for it is that, in 2001, the “school year” changed to commence on September 1st: previously, it had been August 1st.

The second category – which governs your situation – relates to people entering the profession after April 1st, 2004 or who return to teaching after that date following a break of more than half a year in public service employment. For these teachers, there is no mandatory retirement age. That means they can continue in public service as long as health and fitness allow. However, individual contracts may set out a retirement date. There is also, for this group, a “minimum” retirement date before which they cannot leave and draw down a pension – of 65.

Finally, there is a third category relevant only to very recently appointed teachers – those entering the classroom after the start of 2013. As with category two, it does include those coming back to teaching after a break of more than 26 weeks.

For these recent entrants, the concept of “compulsory” retirement returns – but not until the age of 70. The Act governing their pension arrangements – the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2013 – ties the minimum pension age to the State pension age. That is currently 66 and is currently due to rise to 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028.

So where does that leave you. Back with your contract of indefinite duration. If it gives no precise date – only reference to a normal retirement date – as I suspect it does, you need first to consult your school with whom you have the contract. It could be that they are open on you continuing until you are 66, or later, health permitting.

If that does not give clarity, or satisfaction, you can go back to the Department. In the absence of a clear retirement age on your contract – and given that teachers in your group have no compulsory retirement age – you should pursue your choice for the extra year.

Finally, on the issue of when you “came into the system”, I wouldn’t worry too much. You first started teaching part-time after 2004 and you got your CID contract in 2011. On both counts, you fall squarely into category two above.

Will gift to
children fall
foul of HSE?

I would like to give money to my each of my four children, possibly €10,000 each. However, my husband is disabled and might possibly need nursing home care in the future.

In assessing my assets, would the HSE look at monies given away to my children as money distributed to try to avoid going over the threshold in assessing my means.

Ms N.M., email

You are fully entitled under Revenue rules to make gifts during your lifetime – up to €225,000 a head in the case of your children. Will the HSE play up if your husband needed long term nursing home care? They might.

Under the Fair Deal nursing home scheme, the HSE assesses the income and assets of the applicant. Effectively the individual’s contribution equals 80 per cent of the income and 5 per cent of the value of their assets (property, shares, savings etc) annually. In relation to savings, the HSE only includes savings over €36,000.

Where you have a couple, only half the family income is taken into account and half the combined assets. The €36,000 exemption is per person and therefore rises to €72,000.

Importantly, the HSE does include income “which you have deprived yourself of in the five years leading up to your application”. It is unclear whether this applies to savings, or just the interest accruing on savings.

It is also unclear if the HSE is assuming all couples are jointly assessed and that all savings and wealth in assets is owned jointly. This is clearly not always the case.

However, if you want to gift the money, I would go ahead and do so. Even if the HSE can argue it has to be taken into account and is within the five-year threshold, there is a provision to defer the 5 per cent element until after the death on the applicant. And, of course, any nursing home application could be more than five years away.

Send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara St, D2, or email dcoyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice.