Fórsa has secured an agreement with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which will see a long running issue concerning the rules governing pension accrual for civil servants, resolved.

Until recently, an anomaly existed that meant an individual would lose four days of reckonable service for pension purposes if they chose to take parental leave on the last working day before, and the first working day after, a weekend.

The office responsible for pension policy has confirmed to Fórsa that the manner in which this anomaly was calculated has been amended. Following an update to IT systems, the revised process took effect from February this year.

As a result, people taking parental leave in this fashion will now lose two days of reckonable service for pension purposes, rather than four.

Fórsa official Billy Hannigan has welcomed the change, citing the result as “a testament to perseverance.”

“It should be noted that while it is not possible for the department to retrospectively update the calculations for all affected employees at present, the appropriate corrections will be made on a case-by-case basis in the lead up to retirement,” Billy said.