On Air Night Flight | Midnight - 5:00am

Public sector pension pay-outs - what is the full cost?

More than £86 million has been paid out in lump sums since 2007 as workers take their public sector pensions, it’s been revealed.

The information was given by Public Sector Pensions Authority vice-chairman Alfred Cannan who faced questions on the subject in the House of Keys.

This week, he was asked a question for written answer by Castletown MHK Richard Ronan about how many people had been given lump sums when they retired.

Mr Cannan said the way the data was stored meant it was difficult to say how many payments there had been.

In his answer, Mr Cannan said between 300 and 400 people with public sector pensions had retired each year for the past six years.

And the amounts paid out in lump sums had more than doubled from £10 million in 2007 to £21 million last year.

Mr Cannan said the lump sum figures also included cash payments to families of government workers who had died in service.

And he said the more lump sums paid out, the better – because people who take the lump sums lower the government’s ongoing pensions liability.

More from Isle of Man News