Three significant changes to the public service ‘additional superannuation contribution,’ which replaced the so-called pension levy under the Public Service Stability Agreement, come into force on 1st January.

First, the threshold for paying the levy will rise to €32,000, bringing a net improvement of €325 a year for most civil and public servants. Those who currently earn less than €30,000 a year, who do not benefit from this change, will instead get a 1% pay increase next month.

Secondly, there’s a further boost for those who joined the public service after January 2013 and who are in the single public service pension scheme, which was introduced at that time. They will now pay only two-thirds of the additional contribution rate – a figure that will fall to one-third next year.

This reflects the fact that the benefits of the single scheme are different from those in the older scheme.

Thirdly, the contribution will no longer be payable on any non-pensionable elements of public service incomes from January 2019.

All of these changes are contained in the current public service pay agreement, which was negotiated by Fórsa and other unions in 2017. That deal will also see a 1.75% salary adjustment for all civil and public servants next September.

Further pay boosts and another adjustment in the ‘additional superannuation contribution’ threshold are due next year.

The PSSA was accepted in ballots of the members of the three unions that amalgamated to create Fórsa earlier this year.