SECRETARIES GENERAL of Government departments have been told they will be required to inform Ministers if the release of staff under the planned early retirement scheme in the public service will cause “significant unavoidable impacts” on the delivery of services.

In a draft circular sent to heads of departments yesterday, the Department of Finance said vacancies arising from the scheme may not be filled without its specific sanction and that secretaries general will be expected to reorganise or restructure work or business units in order to protect service levels as far as possible.

Trade unions are to meet public service management today to discuss the operation of the incentivised early retirement scheme which was announced in the Budget and which will begin accepting applications from this Friday.

The new scheme will allow for an eligible civil or public servant aged 50 or over to retire without actuarial reduction of pension entitlements.

Ten per cent of the relevant lump sum will be payable immediately, with the balance paid later at the normal retirement age of 60 or 65. However, for those who apply now, the full lump sum will not be taxed, even if the Government introduces such a measure in future years.

The draft circular said that the purpose of the early retirement scheme was “to facilitate the permanent structural reduction in the numbers of staff serving in the Civil Service, local authorities, HSE and non-commercial State bodies with associated restructuring of organisations and operations in as timely a manner as possible”.

However it would appear that the early retirement scheme will not apply to gardaí or teachers. The circular said the scheme would not apply where the relevant pension scheme provided for faster accrual rates of service which allowed staff to retire with full pension after less than 40 years’ actual service or in areas where the recently announced moratorium on recruitment and promotion permitted retiring staff to be replaced.

It said that while staff members had no absolute right to avail of the scheme, in general departments would be expected to facilitate the early release of personnel. It said that priority should be given to those with the longest service.

“In all cases, officers must be given a decision in writing no later than six weeks after their application is made,” the circular stated.

The draft circular also said that in cases where the immediate loss of a particular group or member of staff would “give rise to difficulties of a substantial nature in the management of their department, in supporting the Minister and the Government or in safeguarding exchequer resources”, an application to retire early could be postponed for a year or refused in exceptional cases