Public Sector Pensions Authority
17 FOI requests | Full disclosure rate: 47.1%
The Freedom of Information requests to the Public Sector Pensions Authority (PSPA) reveal an organisation that is generally cooperative in releasing high-level financial aggregates but consistently resists requests requiring complex data compilation or granular individual breakdowns. A recurring theme is the reliance on privacy exemptions to withhold specific details; for instance, while the Authority disclosed total payout figures for police injury awards (2620417) and Tynwald pensions (358493), it strictly redacted individual dates and band-specific data to prevent identification. Furthermore, the Authority frequently deflects requests for custom analysis, such as the refusal to generate anonymised actuarial data for insurance buy-out assessments (1690745), directing requesters instead to existing annual reports or citing the substantial effort required to compile new datasets.
Key Cases
Case 1690745 — This case is critical as it highlights a significant barrier to independent financial analysis; the Authority refused to compile anonymised actuarial data to assess insurance buy-out costs, citing the 'substantial compilation' required, effectively blocking external scrutiny of the scheme's long-term liabilities.
Case 2556505 — A rare instance of high-granularity transparency where the Authority disclosed a detailed table of payment delays for 48 individual police cases, providing concrete evidence of administrative efficiency (or lack thereof) in processing pension lump sums.
Case 358493 — Notable for the explicit disclosure that 'most public sector schemes are unfunded,' a crucial piece of financial context for the island's public sector liabilities that was revealed alongside the withholding of individual member data.
Case 4339707 — This case stands out for its procedural outcome; rather than providing data on Settlement Agreements or a template, the Authority closed the request and offered a complaint form, suggesting potential resistance to transparency regarding employment exits.
Case 2651181 — Demonstrates the Authority's strict application of privacy exemptions (Section 25) to prevent the identification of police officers, forcing the release of only aggregated totals despite the request for itemised lists by qualifying date.
Related FOI Stories
Police Pension Transparency and Delays — #2556505, #2620417, #2651181
Tynwald Member Scheme Scrutiny — #355399, #358493
Data Availability and Actuarial Barriers — #1690745, #2401789, #4335881
Historical Gaps and Jurisdictional Limits — #358491, #2648649, #3831953
Employment Exit and Settlement Opacity — #1089061, #4339707
| Date | Title | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-12-31 | Settlement Agreements | All information sent |
| The requester asked for statistics on Settlement Agreements issued by the Public Sector Pensions Authority since September 2021 and a blank template, but the authority closed the request without providing the data, instead offering a complaint form and outlining appeal rights. | ||
| 2024-12-24 | maximum pension cash outs and trivial | Some information sent but not all held |
| The requester asked for data on public sector pension cash-outs by employee grade for 2022-2024, but the authority could not provide grade-specific breakdowns. Instead, the Public Sector Pensions Authority disclosed total retirement figures and the percentage of trivial commutation lump sums versus other lump sums for the financial years 2021/22 to 2023/24. | ||
| 2024-04-30 | Successful early retirement claims for illnesses such as M. E. or CFS | Information not held |
| A request was made for the number of Isle of Man government employees who successfully claimed early retirement due to M.E. or CFS before age 50. The Public Sector Pensions Authority responded that they do not hold this specific information. | ||
| 2024-02-29 | Overpayment of Pensions (Civll Service, Police and State Pensions) | Information not held |
| 2022-12-13 | m.e.r.s. payments | Information not held |
| 2022-11-16 | amounts paid annually | All information sent |
| 2022-09-22 | police officer pension rights by qualifying employment date | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The requester asked for an itemised list of police officer pension rights by qualifying employment date, but the Public Sector Pensions Authority withheld specific dates to prevent individual identification under Section 25 of the FOI Act 2015, providing only aggregated totals instead. | ||
| 2022-09-21 | Hospice Care Clinical/Non-Clinical provision | Information not held |
| The requester asked for details on why non-clinical Hospice Care employees were excluded from the Government Unified Scheme 2011, but the Public Sector Pensions Authority stated it does not hold this specific information. The authority provided historical context explaining that the exclusion originated from the 2001 Hospice Care Superannuation Scheme managed by the Civil Service Commission before the PSPA took over. | ||
| 2022-09-09 | Unpublished Responses to FOIA Requests | All information sent |
| The request sought unpublished FOIA responses from the Public Sector Pensions Authority, specifically regarding pension payouts for MHK/MLC members and injury awards for former police officers. The authority disclosed total payout figures and recipient counts for pensions, as well as the total number of police injury award recipients, but withheld data broken down by specific bands or review types. | ||
| 2022-08-02 | Length of time taken to pay pension | All information sent |
| A request was made to the Public Sector Pensions Authority for data on the time taken to pay police officers their lump sums and first pension payments over the last five years. The authority disclosed a detailed table containing the specific number of days elapsed for 48 individual cases between 2017 and 2022. | ||
| 2022-04-22 | Annual total of public sector pension payments | All information sent |
| The requester asked for the number of public sector pension recipients and total payment sums for the last financial year and 2016. The authority responded by directing the requester to published Operational Reports and Annual Accounts on their website, noting that audited figures for the most recent year were not yet available. | ||
| 2022-04-08 | Ill health retirement | All information sent |
| 2021-03-03 | Anonymised copy of public sector pension scheme data | Not required to fulfill request |
| The requester asked for anonymised public sector pension data in an actuarial valuation format to assess potential insurance buy-out costs, but the Public Sector Pensions Authority refused the request citing that it would require substantial compilation and analysis of data. | ||
| 2019-12-09 | Access to GUS, Government Unified Scheme. | All information sent |
| A request was made to the Public Sector Pensions Authority for data on retired government workers who returned to work and accessed the Government Unified Scheme (GUS) in the last 12 months. The authority responded that no such individuals were recorded during that period. | ||
| 2017-10-28 | Tynwald Member Pension Scheme Information | All information sent |
| A request was made to the Public Sector Pensions Authority regarding the pay elements and contribution percentages for the Tynwald Member Pension Scheme. The authority disclosed that members contribute between 10% and 15% of their salary, while the government contributes 15% plus any funding shortfalls. | ||
| 2017-10-28 | Tynwald Member Pension Data and Scheme Fund Information | Some information sent but not all held |
| The request sought detailed pension data for Tynwald members, including individual payouts and fund values. The authority disclosed total annual pension benefits from 2012 to 2017 and monthly income figures, but withheld individual member data citing privacy exemptions and clarified that most public sector schemes are unfunded. | ||
| 2017-10-12 | Correspondence between IOMG and Firefighters Unions re propsed inclusion into GUS in 2011 | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| A request for 2009 and 2011 correspondence regarding firefighter pension scheme reviews was denied because the Public Sector Pensions Authority did not exist at the time the documents were created. The authority advised the requester to contact the Cabinet Office for information predating the 2011 FOI Act threshold. | ||