Teaching in retirement and abatement
There is a general rule in the Teachers’ Superannuation Schemes that, while a retired teacher may return to work in the public sector, including in a school, the total of their earnings (adding pension and salary in retirement together) cannot exceed the salary they would have been earning if they had not retired. If they are earning more than the amount allowed, then their pension is reduced for every euro above the permitted amount. This is termed ‘abatement’.
The Department of Education has arranged for the relaxation of the ‘abatement’ rules concerning retired teachers returning to work in post-primary schools or the wider public service.
The Department of Education issued Circular 0003/2021 and subsequently issued an extension of the abatement waiver with Circular 0004/2024 in response to current teacher shortages in order to attract retired teachers back into teaching.
Retired teachers are able to return to teaching with no limit on the salaries they may earn on top of their pension, and hence no fear of abatement, for up to 50 school days per calendar year. A school/ETB will have to confirm that it is not practicable to meet the teaching requirement other than by the employment of a retired teacher. A retired teacher may be employed on a casual substitution basis up to a fixed-term temporary contract.
Supplementary Pensions
The rules for teachers eligible to receive a supplementary pension (for teachers retiring before their 66th birthday and who paid A-rate PRSI during their career) have recently changed. Retiring teachers no longer have to demonstrate that they are not entitled to Jobseekers Benefit in order to apply for their Supplementary Pension. New rules mean that such teachers can now apply immediately on retirement for the payment of their supplementary pension without having to first exhaust any entitlement they may have to Jobseekers Benefit. Details of these changes are available on the Department of Education’s website.
In addition, the rules on supplementary pensions which placed significant restrictions on retired teachers working in retirement are now being applied in a more precise manner. The Department of Education and ETBs are effectively the same paymasters for both pensions and pay, and they are now able to co-ordinate the payment of supplementary pensions with a retired teacher’s pay in real-time. This means that retired teachers who are already in receipt of a supplementary pension may now work as a teacher post retirement and only lose the payment of their supplementary pension for the specific day or days on which they work.
Remember, however, that retired teachers have to maintain or renew their Teaching Council registration in order to be paid by the Department of Education or an ETB if they work in a school in retirement.