How to fill in your RET1 form

Fill in your personal details including email address and contact number.  Ensure you use a personal email address and not a school email address, you will need to access this after your retirement.

This section is to be completed by the Manager/Chairperson of your Schools Board of Management. This section does not need to be completed, if you are applying for Preserved Pension Benefits only or where you are not currently employed by a school when retiring.

Question 15

Select your retirement type and enter your date of retirement.

• ‘Reached Minimum Retirement age/Under ‘55/35’ Rule’.

If you have reached the retirement age of your pension scheme (i.e. Old Entrant aged 60), OR you are retiring via Voluntary Early Retirement (aka 55/34 rule) – tick this box.

• Reached Compulsory Retirement Age

The compulsory retirement age is 70.  If you have reached the compulsory retirement age of 70 and are retiring, tick this box.

• Cost Neutral Early Retirement (CNER)

Tick this box when you are going before the retirement age of your pension scheme and do not meet the criterial for Voluntary Early Retirement (aka 55/34 rule).

CNER is only available from age 50 for members of the Old Entrant Pension Scheme and age 55 for members of the New Entrant or Single Public Service Pension Scheme.

• Claimed Preserved pension benefits

This is where for example someone left the teaching profession and is now claiming their pension at the normal retirement age for their scheme.

Question 18

List all your public service history.  You could attach a copy of your service record if you have one.

1. List pre-service training i.e. 3 years B.Ed
2. If completed post-grad, note graduation date.

Question 24

1. ‘Capitation primary schools’ – this relates to a service purchase option introduced in 1996 for teachers who were teaching in religious schools while replacing a member of the religious order who had taken a leave of absence to study or go abroad.  At the time, the replacement teacher was not included in the pension scheme, but this service can now be bought back at the normal rate, the cost of superannuation will be deducted from their Lump Sum. If you do not remember a situation like this, then this section wouldn’t apply to you.
2. ‘Supernumerary teacher’ – This relates to Religious Orders, where a member of religious order, nun or brother, was on sabbatical and then the school hired in a teacher to replace them.  If you do not remember a situation like that, then this section would not apply to you.
3. ‘APSO/Comhlámh’ – Some teachers volunteered abroad with APSO. For some of these contracts, the pension contributions were paid and if so, it will be noted on your service record.  Other contracts did not pay the pension contributions.  If you did volunteer with APSO (now Comhlámh) tick yes.

Question 26

If a pension was not yet ‘Vested’, a person could claim back pension contributions (if under 2 years’ worth of pension contributions). Have you claimed back pension contributions from public service in the past?  If so, date.

Question 28

Did you have superannuation contributions for teaching service refunded and have since sought to buy them back? If so, this section relates to you.

Question 30

Have you separated/divorced and if so, do you have a Pension Adjustment Order (PAO) in place.  If so, send to Family Law Unit of pensions Unit gov – Family Law and pensions (www.gov.ie)

Question 31

Are you receiving a pension from any other public service employment?

Question 32

Do you have other public service in another public sector and could be entitled to of a pension from same?

Question 33

If you have an AVC, tick yes.  You will need to contact your AVC provider (i.e. if with Cornmarket, make contact), they will provide the relevant information to fill in Part 6 of the form which refers to AVC’s.

Question 34

If using your AVC to pay for any outstanding pension payments tick yes. These deductions will  come out of your lumpsum automatically and are tax free when paid via lumpsum.

Indicate if you are a member of the Spouses’ and Children’s Pension Scheme. There was a choice for women to opt out of the scheme, however it was subsequently made compulsory.  If you opted out, you were required to write to the DE to opt out.  If you do not remember doing so, then you were automatically included in the scheme.  If you check your payslip and see the Deduction of ‘SP & CH’, this indicates you are paying into the scheme.

Teachers in the Single Public Service Pension Scheme are automatically members of the Spouses and Children’s Pension scheme, they will not see a separate deduction on their payslip.

Indicate your current marital status.  You are required to also attach original documentation i.e. Marriage Certificate, so we would suggest when posting to do so via register post.  Your original documentation will be returned. If you do not submit the required original documents, it may lead to a delay in the processing of your benefits.

If you are in the Older Spouses and Children’s pension scheme (pre 2004/05) and remain single on retirement, you tick the box, the DE will automatically refund you the SP & CH contributions.  If you are divorced, they will refund your contributions from the date of your divorce.  If widowed, they will refund you from the date of death of your spouse.

Your spouse/civil partner is required to sign Part 5C in relation to the potential provision of Spouses’ and Children’s Pension Scheme benefits.

Enter details relating to any additional pension benefits you may have (excluding social welfare benefits). This is a mandatory section that is required to be completed under Revenue legislation.

If you have an AVC with a financial broker i.e. Cornmarket, they will provide you with the relevant information to complete this section.

This is the declaration for benefits and must be signed by all applicants. If you are applying to retire on a Cost Neutral Early Retirement basis you must also complete the second declaration. Place an ‘X’ in each box to indicate you have read the declaration and sign.

Enter your personal bank account details. This is the account that your pension will be paid into. Remember to check the deposit limit on your account with your bank/financial institution to ensure that your lump sum will be accepted

This section provides you with a copy of the Data Protection Privacy Statement associated with this application form. By signing the declaration on Page 8 you are acknowledging you have read this. You can retain this page for future reference.

This section provides you with contact details for the Pension Unit, and the details of where you can send your completed application form with any supporting documentation. There is also a space in which you can note the date you posted your form.