This Little-Known 7% Pension Boost for An Post Retirees Could Change Your Financial Future Overnight—Are You Ready to Cash In?

Ever wonder what it takes for a hard-working postal worker, long retired, to finally see a real bump in their pension? Well, for 7,000 former An Post employees, 2025 is looking up with a juicy 7% increase coming their way—but this wasn’t handed over on a silver platter . It’s the result of a gritty showdown between An Post and the Communications Workers’ Union, locked in over how exactly pensionable pay is calculated. You see, there was a pesky gap between what counted as pensionable and what didn’t—meaning some of those well-earned pay hikes from the past few years weren’t making it into the pension pot. The union wasn’t having it, pressing hard to make sure those raises showed up where it counts in retirement. After a tense dance of negotiations, actuarial reviews, and a bit of strategy, they’ve finally closed that gap, padding pensions far more than originally promised. So, what can this teach us about negotiating leverage and looking out for your future self? Buckle up, because the pension game just got a whole lot more interesting for these workers. LEARN MORE

Around 7,000 retired An Post workers will see their pension payments increase by 7% this year.

A dispute arose between An Post and the Communications Workers’ Union about how much of a postal worker’s salary can be used to calculate their pension.

A gap existed between pensionable pay, which is used to calculate the value of pensions, and workers’ non-pensionable pay.

The union had argued that pay increases in the last three years must be included when An Post is calculating how much each worker will get in their pension.

“The full amount of pay increases secured over the last 3.5 years is fully reflected as pensionable pay for An Post workers,” CWU general secretary Seán McDonagh said.

“The gap between pensionable and non-pensionable pay has been an important issue throughout pay negotiations at An Post.

“The latest round of these negotiations secured a total of 8% between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025.

“However, pension increases were restricted to 2% for each of these years under the An Post Pension Accord.

“At the time these increases were agreed, we informed the company and the trustees of the scheme that we would be seeking to close the gap that had emerged between pensionable and non-pensionable pay, and secure increases in pensions paid to An Post pensioners.

“We agreed to wait until the outcome of the latest actuarial review of the An Post pension scheme as the long-term sustainability of the scheme for the benefit of its members is critical.

“We have now succeeded in fully eliminating the gap, with the effect that the full amount of pay increases secured over the last 3.5 years are fully reflected as pensionable pay for An Post workers.

“We have secured an accumulated 22% increase in pensionable pay, resulting in An Post pensioners seeing an additional 7% increase to pensions in 2025.”

The CWU entered direct negotiations following the completion of a three-yearly review of the An Post Pension Scheme covering the three years to end of 2024 by the scheme’s actuarial advisers, which determined a surplus in the pension fund.

Following this agreement, the full extent of pay increases negotiated with An Post over the past three years will be fully reflected in the pensions paid to staff.

Furthermore, An Post pensioners will see a further increases in their pensions of 7% this year, with 6% effective from January and 1% from June.

An Post declined to comment.