Politics
Pension Reserve Exhausted
Only £8.3m was reimbursed as the fund is all but depleted, leaving a £28.7m balance in the revenue account
Civil servant pensions will be paid for from general revenue going froward as the Public Sector Employee Pension Reserve has run dry.
The balance of the PSEPR has been utilised to offset the net cost of pension payments to former gov employees.
Last year the net cost of pensions was met by a transfer from the PSEPR but in the current year only £8.3m was reimbursed as the fund is all but depleted, leaving a £28.7m balance in the revenue account.
In the Central Government Accounts, released online, the accounts say that ‘the PSEPR is now largely depleted so the net cost of public sector pensions has not been reimbursed (last year £30m)’.
Across the financial year 2022/23, public sector pensions were £4m over budget. Costs included £32m of lump sum payments, up about £1m the previous year (~£31m).
The depletion of the fund is broadly inline with projections in 2021 when Douglas South MHK Chris Thomas said that the previous exhaustion date of 2020/21 had been pushed back to 2023/24, while the once projected shortfall of £63m by 2021-22 had been slashed by way of benefits being reduced and contributions going up.
