Employment Issues
TEACHERS SUPERANNUATION ACT, 1928.
AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION FOR THE FORMULATING AND CARRYING OUT OF SCHEMES FOR THE PROVISION OF PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES FOR OR IN RESPECT OF TEACHERS AND CERTAIN FORMER TEACHERS. [30th November, 1928.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—
Definition.
1.—In this Act the word “teacher” includes a person who was a secondary teacher on the 1st day of January 1927 and ceased to be such teacher after that date and before the passing of this Act, and also includes a person who was formerly a teacher and while he was a teacher was appointed to a pensionable post in the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann and at the passing of this Act holds the same or a similar post in the said Civil Service.
Preparation of superannuation scheme.
2.—(1) The Minister for Education may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, prepare in relation to any particular class or classes of teachers a scheme (in this Act referred to as a superannuation scheme) with the object of providing pensions and gratuities for or in respect of the class or classes of teacher to whom such scheme applies and (subject to confirmation thereof under this Act) carry such scheme into execution.
(2) Different superannuation schemes may be prepared and (subject as aforesaid) be carried into execution by the Minister for Education in relation to different classes of teachers.
Contents of superannuation scheme.
3.—(1) A superannuation scheme may contain provisions in relation to all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—
(a) the setting up of a pension fund for the purposes of such scheme and the administration of such fund;
(b) the payment into such fund by teachers to whom such scheme applies of such contributions as may be prescribed by such scheme;
(c) the payment into such fund of such moneys as may be provided by the Oireachtas for the purposes of such scheme;
(d) the payment out of such fund to or in respect of teachers to whom such scheme applies of pensions and gratuities at such rates in such manner and on such conditions and restrictions (including restrictions on alienation) as may be prescribed by such scheme.
(2) A superannuation scheme may authorise the deduction of such sums as may be prescribed by such scheme from or in respect of salaries or other payments payable to teachers to whom such scheme applies and the payment of the sums so deducted into the pension fund set up under such scheme.
(3) A superannuation scheme may (in addition to or without the deductions mentioned in the foregoing sub-section) authorise the deduction of such sums as may be prescribed by such scheme from any grants payable in respect of schools in which teachers to whom such scheme applies are employed and the payment of the sums so deducted into the pension fund set up under such scheme.
(4) Where a superannuation scheme is expressed to apply to any class of teachers to whom the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, applies, such scheme may be in addition to or in substitution for the provisions of the said Act as amended by the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1920 , relating to such class of teachers and may revoke or amend such provisions accordingly.
Teacher appointed to Civil Service.
4.—A superannuation scheme may in regard to persons to whom such scheme applies appointed to pensionable posts in the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann, make special provision for the award of pensions to some or all such persons in respect of their service as teachers and may provide for the assessment and payment of any such pension being postponed until the person to whom it is awarded leaves the said Civil Service.
Confirmation of scheme by Oireachtas.
5.—No superannuation scheme shall come into force unless and until it has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and has been confirmed by resolution of each such House.
Revocation and amendment of superannuation scheme.
6.—A superannuation scheme may be revoked or amended by a subsequent superannuation scheme made and confirmed in the like manner as the original scheme.
Expenses.
7.—All expenses incurred in carrying this Act into execution shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
Short title.
8.—This Act may be cited as the Teachers’ Superannuation Act, 1928.
TEACHERS’ SUPERANNUATION (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1990
AN ACT TO AMEND THE TEACHERS’ SUPERANNUATION ACT, 1928 . [4th December, 1990]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
Definition.
1.—In this Act, “the Principal Act” means the Teachers’ Superannuation Act, 1928 .
Amendments to Principal Act.
2.—(1) Section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—
(a) by the deletion in subsection (1) of “(subject to confirmation thereof under this Act)”; and
(b) by the deletion in subsection (2) of “(subject as aforesaid)”.
(2) The following sections are hereby substituted for sections 5 and 6 of the Principal Act:
“Revocation and amendment of superannuation scheme.
5.—A superannuation scheme may be revoked or amended by a subsequent superannuation scheme made in the like manner as the original scheme.
Annulment of superannuation scheme.
6.—Every superannuation scheme made under this Act (including a subsequent superannuation scheme revoking or amending a previous scheme) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the scheme is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”.
Short title and collective citation.
3.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Teachers’ Superannuation (Amendment) Act, 1990.
(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Teachers’ Superannuation Acts, 1928 and 1990.
National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879
NATIONAL SCHOOL TEACHERS (IRELAND) ACT 1879
CHAPTER LXXIV.
An Act for improving the position of the Teachers of National Schools in Ireland. [15th August 1879.]
[Preamble.]
Preliminary.
Short title.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, . . .
Interpretation of terms.
2. In this Act . . .
The term “the Commissioners of Education” means the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland:
The term “prescribed” means prescribed by rules to be made by the Treasury with the consent of the Lord Lieutenant:
The term “classed teachers” means such principal and assistant teachers of model or ordinary national schools as receive salaries from and are classed according to the regulations of the Commissioners of Education.
Pensions.
Funds to be provided out of Irish Church surplus. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42.
3. The Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland shall, out of the property accruing to them under the Irish Church Act, 1869, when and as required by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, with the consent of the Lord Lieutenant and the Treasury, provide for the purposes of this Act, either in cash or in securities or rentcharges of an equivalent value, such sums, not exceeding in the whole the sum of one million three hundred thousand pounds sterling, as the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt shall from time to time certify to be required for the purposes of this Act. So long as the said capital sum of one million three hundred thousand pounds, or any part of it, remains outstanding in the hands of the Commissioners of Church Temporalities, they shall on the first day of July and the first day of January in each year pay to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt interest on the said sum or on the balance thereof remaining unpaid from time to time at the rate of three pounds per cent, per annum. The said sum, with the interest thereof, is in this Act styled “The Pension Fund.”
Deductions from salaries of teachers.
4. The Commissioners of Education shall deduct in the prescribed manner from the salary paid by them to every classed teacher entitled to the benefit of this Act the amount which they are required to deduct in each case in accordance with the provisions of the schedule to this Act. All such deductions shall be paid to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in the prescribed manner, and, together with the interest thereon, shall form part of the pension fund.
Investment of pension funds.
5. The pension fund shall be invested by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in such and the like securities as the said Commissioners are authorised by law to purchase on account of savings banks, and the said Commissioners shall, in respect of all such moneys, have such and the like powers as are now vested by law in the said Commissioners in respect of moneys received by them on account of savings banks; and a separate and distinct account shall be kept by the said Commissioners of all receipts, investments, sales and repayments; and a balance sheet of such account from the first of January to the thirty-first of December in every year shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament not later than the thirty-first of March in the following year.
Award of retiring allowances.
6. It shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, with the consent of the Treasury, to grant to any classed teacher of a national school in Ireland, on his retirement from the service, a pension or gratuity according to the scale, and subject to the provisions contained in the schedule to this Act, chargeable upon the pension fund, and to be paid in the prescribed manner.
If any question arises as to the claim of any person or class of persons for a pension or gratuity under this Act, it shall be referred to the Treasury, whose decision shall be final.
Commissioners of National Debt may advance funds.
24 Vict. c. 14.
26 & 27 Vict. c. 87.
7. The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt may, if they think fit, from time to time, until the payment to them of the whole of the said capital sum of one million three hundred thousand pounds, make advances for the purposes of this Act, and may apply for that purpose any funds for the time being in their hands under the authority of the Post Office Savings Bank Act, 1861, and the Trustee Savings Banks Act, 1863, or either of such Acts. All such advances shall be repaid to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt out of the pension fund with interest at the rate of three and a half per centum per annum, in the prescribed manner. If at any time the pension fund shall be insufficient for the repayment of such advances, the Treasury, upon being duly informed thereof by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, shall issue the amount of such deficiency out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or out of the growing produce thereof, and the Treasury shall certify such deficiency to Parliament.
Borrowing powers of Commissioners of Church Temporalities.
32 & 33 Vict.c. 42.
8. The several provisions of the Irish Church Act, 1869, with respect to the raising of money by the Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland, and the giving of security for the repayment thereof, and of interest thereon, and with respect to advances to be made by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to the said Commissioners of Church Temporalities, and with respect to the powers of the Treasury in relation to the money so to be raised, shall be extended and shall apply to the purposes of this Act as fully as such provisions apply to the purposes of the Irish Church Act, 1869.
Retirement of teachers.
9. Every classed teacher of a national school shall, unless permitted by the Commissioners of Education to continue in the service, retire at the age of sixty-five years in the case of males and at the age of sixty years in the case of females.
Power to Treasury to make rules.
10. The Treasury, with the consent of the Lord Lieutenant, may from time to time make rules for the administration of this Act. Copies of all such rules shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days from the date thereof, if Parliament is then sitting, and if not, then within fourteen days from the next re-assembling of Parliament.
Schedule to be deemed part of Act.
11. The schedule to this Act shall be construed and have effect as part of this Act. The rules in the schedule to this Act may from time to time be revoked, varied, and added to by the Lord Lieutenant with the consent of the Treasury.
[S. 12 rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R)]
SCHEDULE. Sects. 4, 6, 11.
Regulations as to Payment of Premiums, &c.
I.—Payment of Premiums.
1. For the purposes of this schedule, the first division of the first class and the second division of the first class shall be regarded as separate classes.
2. There shall be deducted from the quarterly salary payable to every classed teacher appointed after the passing of this Act, one-fourth part of the premium shown in Table A, Column 1, against the age of the teacher at the time of appointment. The premium shall not be due until the quarter is completed.
3. A teacher in the third class at the time of the passing of this Act may secure the same advantages by submitting to a deduction from his or her quarterly salary of the fourth part of the premium shown in Table A, column 1, against the age at which he or she entered the class.
4. A teacher in a class above the third class at the time of the passing of this Act will have the option of submitting to a deduction from his or her salary of the premium for his or her existing class, as shown against the age of entering that class in column 2, 3, or 4, together with the premium or premiums for the lower class or classes shown against the age of entry into such class, and will be entitled to pension accordingly.
5. A teacher in the service at the time of the passing of this Act and declining to submit to such deductions will have only such rights in respect to a retiring gratuity as he would have had on the system in force at the time of the passing of this Act.
6. Teachers entering the service after the passing of this Act, and teachers in the service at the time of the passing of this Act who elect to come in under this scheme, will on promotion be required to submit thereafter to a deduction, in addition to the premium already deducted, of the amount of premium shown in Table A for the class to which promoted, according to the age on promotion.
7. If a teacher is or has been appointed in the first instance to a class above the third, or if on promotion a teacher passes or has passed over a class, he or she shall nevertheless pay in addition to the premium of his or her actual class the premium for each lower class.
8. Teachers in the service at the time of the passing of this Act will not be allowed to take advantage of this Act unless they declare their election to do so within five years after the passing of this Act; any teacher who does not, on or before the thirty-first of March one thousand eight hundred and eighty, declare his election to take advantage of this Act will, if he afterwards elects to do so, be required to pay all premiums which would have been payable by him if he had elected before the said thirty-first of March to take advantage of the Act, together with compound interest on such premiums at the rate of three per cent, per annum.
9. Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, every teacher who is at the time of the passing of this Act in a class above the third class, or who, after the passing of this Act, is promoted to or enters a class above the third class, may elect to be treated as a teacher in the third class, or in any class intermediate between the third class and the class in which he is actually serving, and shall thereupon be entitled to the pension, and liable to the premiums fixed by this Schedule for the class the benefits of which he elects to receive.
10. For the purposes of this Act the several classes of teachers above the third class shall be deemed to consist of the following numbers (herein-after called “the standard numbers”); that is to say,
Males.
Females.
First Class—First Division –
150
First Class—First Division –
130
First Class—Second Division
410
First Class—Second Division
350
Second Class – – –
1,850
Second Class – – –
1,550
Should the teachers actually paying premiums in any class above the third class reach at any time the standard number, a teacher thereafter promoted to such higher class shall continue to pay the premiums and be entitled to the pension of the class below until a vacancy occurs in the standard number of the teachers paying the premium of such higher class, when he shall be entitled to claim to pay the increased premium assigned to his then age, and to secure the pension of the higher class. If the total number of male classed teachers paying premiums exceeds five thousand three hundred, or the total number of female classed teachers exceeds five thousand four hundred, the junior teachers in excess of those numbers shall not be entitled to the benefits of this Act until by seniority they come within such numbers, and their so coming within such numbers shall be held for the purposes of this Act to be their appointment to the service, -11. Each teacher shall be required to produce proof of age.
Table A.
Annual Premiums payable by Teachers (until 65 years of age for Males of 60 years of age for Females) to secure a deferred Pension.
Age on Appointment or Promotion.
Males.
Females.
Age on Appointment or Promotion.
Col. 1.
Col. 2.
Col. 3.
Col. 4.
Col. 1.
Col. 2.
Col. 3.
Col. 4.
Pension £35 from 65
Pension £46 fr4m 65.
Pension £60 from 65.
Pension £88 from 65.
Pension £25 from 60.
Pension £34 from 60.
Pension £47 from 60.
Pension £63 from 60.
3rd Class.
2nd Class.
1st. Class 2nd Div
1st Class, 1st. Div.
3rd Class.
2nd Class.
1st Class. 2nd Div.
1st Class, 1st Div.
13. Service after the age of 65 for males or 60 for females, even if specially permitted, shall not confer any right to an increase of pension.
Pensions on Voluntary Retirement.
14. A male teacher aged 55 or upwards, or a female teacher aged 50 or upwards, may retire on the following rates of pension, viz.:
Males.
Age on
First Class,
First Class
Second Class
Third Class.
Retirement.
First Division.
Second Division.
12
Payment of Pensions.
15. Pensions will be paid quarterly in arrear, on proof being furnished of existence and identity.
Gratuities in Case of Disability.
16. If the Commissioners of Education certify to the Lord Lieutenant that they are satisfied that a male teacher under the age of fifty-five or a female teacher under the age of fifty, who, in case he or she continued in the service until the age for compulsory retirement would be entitled to a retiring allowance under this Act, has become incapable from permanent infirmity of mind or body to discharge the duties of his or her situation, the Lord Lieutenant, with the consent of the Treasury, may grant to such teacher a gratuity, or, if the teacher prefers it, a pension on retirement according to the following scale, and having regard to the highest class for which such teacher shall have paid the premium.
A
III.—Repayment of Premiums.
17. If a teacher is dismissed or quits the service otherwise than by death or retirement on a pension, or retirement on receipt of a gratuity in lieu of pension, he shall forfeit all claim to pension or gratuity, but the amount deducted from salary from time to time for premiums shall be returned to him, either at the time of withdrawal from the service, or at any time thereafter, on proof of identity.
18. In the event of a teacher, who is dismissed or quits the service, re-entering for further service, he or she shall again pay any sum which may have been repaid, and also any premiums for the quarter years during which he or she may have been out of the service. These sums while unpaid shall bear compound interest at the rate of three per cent, per annum. They may be paid at once on re-entering the service, or the payments may be spread by deductions from salary over one or two years, as the Commissioners shall determine.
19. A teacher degraded from a higher class shall receive back any premiums paid as a consequence of service in such higher class, and shall only have a claim to the pension of the class for which he shall afterwards pay the premiums.