Public service retirees to get 3.8% pension rise
(CNS): Retired public sector workers who are members of the government pension scheme will be receiving a 3.8% increase for 2024 based on the current inflation rate, the Public Service Pension Board (PSPB) has said.
CNS has confirmed that MPs and judges who receive pensions are also receiving the cost-of-living increase on their payments, despite having separate pension funds from government workers.
The Public Service Pensions Act (2023 Revision) requires that increases remain in line with the cost of living, and the 3.8% figure is based on the Economics and Statistics Office’s Consumer Price Index and will be applied from the start of the year.
Eligible pensioners in receipt of a monthly pension will see the increase in their June payment as well as the retroactive portion for January through May. “We are pleased to process this increase in monthly payments for our long serving pensioners who deserve to have comfortable income in retirement,” said PSPB CEO Jewel Evans Lindsey.
The only pensioners not eligible to receive an increase in payment are those receiving the government’s Ex-Gratia Uplift, as this group will continue to receive their monthly payment of $1,250. This is a result of applying the 3.8% inflation adjustment increase to the monthly pension and then decreasing the amount of the Ex-Gratia Uplift to maintain the $1,250 monthly payment, the PSPB said.
While overall inflation has declined over the last few months, prices are still increasing, though at a slower pace. However, there are significant differences in some prices that are likely to hurt pensioners even after the adjustment. Rents, for example, were more than 11% higher at the end of the first quarter of this year when compared with the prices in March 2023.
Changes in food prices ranged widely, from increases of over 9% on some goods to declines of 9% on others, making budgeting extremely difficult for pensioners living on a small fixed income, especially those who don’t own their own homes.
Any pensioner who needs more information or clarification on the inflation increase can call the PSPB’s Pension Administration and Member Services Department at 345-945-8175.
More information is also available here.
- Fascinated
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When will they be required to actually start contributing to their pension?
When the civil service is no longer a critical voting block.
As a retired public service pensioner (of the old-school work ethic), I would gladly forfeit my 3.8% increase for improved efficiency in current public services – across the board!
But wait….Franz Manderson, his Chief Officers and most Department Heads have eroded that possibility!!
Morons in charge!!
Good.
Nobody in the private sector gets a COLA on their pension every year, or free medical care for life, or the opportunity to run their own business from their employer’s office, or being able to ignore incoming phone calls without retribution.The Civil Service and other Govt owned entities constitute by far the largest voting block in the Cayman Islands which is why they effectively control our so called Government and get what they want, but for sure, don’t deserve.
I am so happy to see our pensioners being taken care of many of whom worked for slave wages for Government in the 60’s and 70’s while the private sector was giving bonuses.
Stop being jealous because an employer actually takes care of its employees past and present. The civil service got it act together and developed world class pension legislation. It’s time for the private sector to do the same.
Unlike the private sector which lives in the real world, the Civil Service which is always described by themselves as “world class” is anything but and that’s a fact.
You can afford to give your employees anything you like when someone else is paying for it.
PS your world class pension legislation – you mean the one which forces people to use an oligopoloy of local providers whose performance is dismal, and prevents them taking their funds out, even to buy an annuity, on retirement? That one?
I guess this means that the post offices, courts office, Registrar of companies immigration and all the other government offices will now pick up the ringing phones on their desks.
yah. Don’t count on that.
You notice that the more services are required to be paid online, the longer they take? You wonder what the people who used to services those payments are now doing? I do.
12:31 you do realise that this increase applies to pensioners. This means persons that have retired.
How can this award translate topersons answering their phone. If it does, then can we have similar awards for all the banks, who refuses to allow you to talk to a person.
They’re retired so they shouldn’t be answering the phone at work.
8:54, these responses you are commenting on just demonstrate the pathetic jealousy of some posters plus…and this is depressing…the undeniable fact that they are so dim witted they couldn’t remember that the story was about PENSIONERS ie RETIRED PERSONS and not practicing civil servants. I hope my capital letters help them through their “duh” moment towards an understanding of the issue they were commenting (absurdly) on.
Election season
Vote buying at its best
civil service….an anchor around caymans neck.
How many recommendations of the miller-shaw or ernst & young reports have been implemented?
The creation of OfReg from the E&Y Report has cost us more than the $250,000 it was supposed to save the country annually!
$250,000 is the Director of OfRegs salary. Bout save the country!
We need an Ofreg. But we need one that actually does its job.
What about the rest of the country? It is infuriating that they receive an increase which is funded on the back of the private citizens, while those of us who are forced to live with a broken private sector pension system are meant to suck it up.
Our elected representatives need to address the broken pension and health insurance regimes. I fear the current retiring generation will face very challenging times during their closing years.
In the UK, health insurance is reasonable even now, and it works.
Here, health insurance is voting against yourself and hoping you lose.
You could have made a simple choice ……
Join the Civil Service then you wouldn’t be out there complaining all the time.
It’s official. The civil service, whose very job was to protect, enhance and serve us, has bankrupted us, and destroyed our future.
Think this is an exaggeration? Do the math!
Where is the general life lesson on the adult imperative to save properly for retirement, not campaign after the fact for increased pension stipends? Upgrading to premium cat food won’t really be a leg-up, and it sends the wrong message about adulting.
Just in case you are in my same regretful zone, opt for the feline ‘pate’ rather than the ‘grilled’. If you buy the ‘grilled’, you just have to smash it repeatedly to render it into pate. Plus, most of the pates have a better flavour; more smokey with subtle nutty nuances.
Meantime the maximum you can draw from your private sector pension per month remains unchanged. Ironic – we actually paid for our pensions but cant access the money beyond a monthly cap below the equivalent minimum hourly wage, but those that get it gratis get a cost of living adjustment free. Guess we dont “deserve to have comfortable income in retirement”
No, what you get as private sector, is the luxury of having to pay for Civil Service pension upgrades.