Government stands firm on early retirement pension penalty

The government said on Tuesday it has no intention of scrapping the so-called ‘penalty’ on pensions imposed on those retiring early at age 63, provoking a tussle in parliament between the labour minister and opposition MPs.

Grilled by lawmakers, Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou stated categorically that the government has no plans to do away with the 12 per cent ‘penalty ’.

This sparked a verbal back-and-forth with Akel MP Andreas