How ministers qualify for pensions
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that retiring ministers must serve at least eight years in office to be eligible for a pension.
Replying to a question by opposition Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC Pritam Singh on Monday, he disclosed that the pension is based only on the pensionable component of the salary and not on the total monthly salary.
This pensionable component has been fixed since 1994, and so it has been decreasing in proportion to the total monthly salary, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Other components of the annual salary such as the 13th month payment, annual variable component and performance bonus are also not pensionable, said the prime minister.
He pointed out that a minister is only eligible for the maximum pension after he has served for 18 years as an office holder and will receive less if he serves a shorter period.
The maximum pension is about 10 per cent of his annual salary before his retirement.
Lee also said the value of pension a minister is able to receive upon retirement is fully considered when ministerial salaries are set against the benchmark.
He said a committee reviewing the ministerial salaries – due to release its findings in December – also includes a review of the ministers’ pension scheme.
