Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme Minimum Retirement Age

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made (01.12.2008) to agree to raise the minimum retirement age for the Uniformed Services personnel from 50 to 55 for all future recruits.

Decision Reference: MD-C-2008-0035
Decision Summary Title :	Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme Minimum retirement age – Uniformed Services		Date of Decision Summary:	01-12-2008
Decision Summary Author:	Mick Pinel – Head of Employee Relations		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme (PECRS) Minimum retirement age – Uniformed Services		Date of Written Report:	September 2008
Written Report Author:	Mick Pinel Head of Employee Relations		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme (PECRS) Minimum retirement age – Uniformed Services
Decision(s): To agree to raise the minimum retirement age for the Uniformed Services personnel from 50 to 55 for all future recruits. This decision is supported by the Council of Ministers and would become effective on 1st March 2009. The Chief Minister rescinded MD-C-2008-0023.
Reason(s) for Decision: (i)The UK has increased the minimum retirement age to 55 for Firefighters and Police Officers recruited in the future. (ii) given today’s longevity trends, a minimum retirement age of 55 is far more appropriate than age 50. It was necessary to rescind MD-C-2008-0023, because an earlier draft of the legislation had been presented to the Chief Minister in error.
Resource Implications: None
Action required: Mrs Byron is requested to arrange with the States Greffe for the Report and Proposition to be lodged ‘au Greffe’. The effective date for this Regulatory change to be 1st March 2009.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme Minimum Retirement Age - Uniformed Services

REPORT

The Chief Minister is promoting, on behalf of the States Employment Board, and supported by the Council of Ministers, an amendment to the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (Existing Members) (Jersey) Regulations 1989 and the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (New Members) (Jersey) Regulations 1989.

Under the current Regulations officers in the uniformed services (Category A) have an optional retirement age of 50 and a normal retirement age of 55. The original proposal put to the Staff Associations was to increase the optional retirement age to 55 and the normal retirement age to 60.

Extensive negotiations took place during which strong arguments were put forward by the relevant Staff Associations against a normal retirement age of 60 for front line operational officers. The Employer felt the arguments put forward by the Staff Associations against the proposal had some merit. Consequently, it was decided to amend the proposal by retaining a normal retirement age of 55 but to remove the option for future recruits to retire at age 50.

However, even with this concession the Employer has not been able to reach agreement with the majority of the Staff Associations affected. Nonetheless, the SEB has agreed that the amendments should go forward, the main drivers of which are:-

 To reflect the situation in the UK, which has increased the minimum retirement age to 55 for Firefighters and Police recruited in the future. (Please note that unlike the case in Jersey, in the UK Prison Officers, Airport Fire Fighters and Emergency Ambulance do not enjoy preferential pension rights and early retirement). In his recent report on States Pension Schemes the Comptroller and Auditor General recommends that the States do not allow these to become significantly different from corresponding UK schemes.

 In Jersey as in most developed nations, people are living longer; this is not a temporary bulge, but rather a long term shift in the demographic composition of the population which will result in a much smaller proportion of the population being of working age. Given today’s longevity trends there is increasing pressure to raise retirement ages generally and, a minimum retirement age of 55 is now considered more appropriate than 50.

This amendment alters the PECRS Regulations so that all Category A future recruits to the uniformed services on or after 1st March 2009 will have a retirement age of 55.

There are no financial or manpower implications arising from this draft amendment.