Adec to issue delayed pensions

The delay was because several government bodies were involved and some of the teachers had not filed the necessary documents.

ABU DHABI // Dozens of teachers and staff in the emirate's schools will begin receiving their pensions today after months of delays, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced in a statement yesterday.

"Adec completed procedures for settlement of pension files for 60 retired teachers and administrators working at Adec schools at the three Educational Zones in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Gharbia," the council said in the statement.

Long delays had plagued the settlement of the pensions. There are 14,000 teachers and administrative staff working under Adec in the capital city, Al Ain and the Western Region. Responsibility for the staff was transferred to Adec by a ministerial decision issued in January.

Adec "exerted great efforts to settle pension salaries" for the teachers, according to a statement issued yesterday by Dr Mugheer al Khaili, the council's director general.

Adec acknowledged that there had been delays in settling the pensions, but said it was because several government bodies were involved and some of the teachers had not filed the necessary documents.

"The delay in processing these files was due to the fact that they were shared between more than one authority and the need at each authority to ensure the accuracy of data regarding leaves [and] allowances," Dr al Khaili said.

Adec said it studied the pension applications as part of a committee including the Ministry of Education as well as pensions authorities in the capital. Pensions applications are now due every year in January.

The processing for the current batch of applications began in June, at the end of the academic year.

The pensions apply to UAE nationals only, and depend on how long they were in service and what their salaries before retirement are. Expatriates usually receive an end of service sum on retirement.