Eligibility for State Contributory Pension

Meath Lady said:
Also if you give up work in your early sixties who decides whether you sign for credits or pau a voluntary contribution.
Click to expand...

Meath Lady - Just on this point - if you give up work you should apply for Jobseeker's Benefit. your application will be considered. If your giving up was not for a "good reason" you may be disqualified from any payment for 9 weeks. However you should get credited contributions during your period of claim. The Benefit is payable for up to 9 months. Afterwards, if still unemployed you can continue to sign for credits (signing is once a year for this - but I don't think you have to attend in person to sign after age 62).
 
:) thanks Early Riser. Going to try to ring Buncrana to check about home Makers. Would like to definitely know whether I was entitled to those credits or not
 
Homemakers credits are awarded from 1994 to those who stayed at home to care for child under 12(or adult who needed care) so before you ring the Homemakers section make sure you have children's dates of birth to hand. In other words if your youngest child was over 12 in 1994 there's no Homemakers credits
 
Annie 51
Your husband will not be considered an adult dependant on your pension as the rental properties will be classed an asset and not just the rental from them
 
Meath Lady said:
. Going to try to ring Buncrana to check about home Makers. Would like to definitely know whether I was entitled to those credits or not
Click to expand...

I think you need to complete and send in this form :

http://www.welfare.ie/en/pdf/hm1.pdf

I think what is provided for is to have the years spent as a Homemaker disregarded for State pension calculation purposes, rather than credits. You can apply retrospectively. Have a read here :

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Homemakers-Scheme.aspx

EDIT: Reading again this morning, it seems you do not have to complete the Form if you were receiving Child Benefit during the relevant years. See Black Sheep's post above re relevant years.
 
Last edited:
Early Riser and Black Sheep Thanks for the info. My situation is somewhat complex and I am trying to either have as many years as possible disregarded or credited whichever works best.
I gave up work in January 1988 on an early retirement package as I had two children aged 5 and 3 to take care of, and my husband had set up a business which meant he was away from home a fair amount. I had a third child in 1990 and as this came into effect in 1994 I should be eligible but I think there are conditions attached. I did contact social welfare in the nineties and was informed that you did not need to register once I was in receipt of child benefit which I was.
As I am now approaching 60 and thinking in pension terms I want to establish as best I can how much of a contributory pension I can expect if I live long enough. I know I wont be entitled to anything until I am 67 and am pretty sure I wont be entitled to a full coap. There are seven or eight years from 1994 that could possibly be disregarded and this is what I would like to clarify as this will hopefully enhance the pension. However here is where the difficulty is: I was in receipt of a pension from my employment circa 2500 Irish pounds and am unsure for this reason if I cannot claim homemakers credits/disregard. I also did the census in 2002( but this would probably only exclude that year) and I probably have 12 A contributions for this.

When one begins working at 18 like I and most people in my generation did and paid an A rated contribution, it is a very long road 49 years in fact until one is 67. My working career began in Sept/Oct 1975. I may have only paid five or ten A contributions back then, (but I think the count starts from there) before I was employed by civil service and then Local Authority. My Local Authority years span from mid 1976 to Jan 1988 with a fifteen month career break in 84/85 and these were definitely D contributions.

I returned to work in Sept 2004 and have A rated contributions with a few credits in 04/06 before I was permanently employed.

I have contacted Social Protection in Buncrana yesterday and somebody is to ring me back on Monday and hopefully I will be able to confirm my position in this regard.

However if the new pension proposals for 2020 come into effect maybe these years wont make any difference to me.

Any further thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
 
Meath Lady - yes it does look like you will not qualify for the full State pension but you should qualify for a pro-rata Pension. Hopefully Buncrana can give you some clarification regarding what qualification you might have for the Homemaker Scheme and this should certainly make a difference to the level of pension you eventually receive.

However, I don't think they can, or will, give you a pension estimate for a variety of reasons (eg, what your record may be from now until pension age, the possibility/likelihood of changes to the qualifying criteria in the interim, etc.). Keeping up your A record from now until 65 should make a difference and is the only other thing you have control over now. If you have your contribution records, the Citizens Information may be able to help with a provisional estimate. Best of luck with it.
 
thanks for all the help and advise. I am awaiting an updated record of contributions and will certainly chat to Citizens Information then. I understand what you are saying about the pension estimate and if I give up work will definitely keep up my A record either through signing for credits or voluntary contributions.

It is only from reading forums and advice such as is available here that I realise the value of signing on etc as I never really understood the Social Welfare system as thankfully myself nor any of my family ever had to access it.
Again appreciate all the helpful advice.
 
Your homemakers years would be from 1994 to 2002, about 8 years or parts thereof. The fact that you had a pension during those years may affect your entitlement as the allowable income (from employment) is €38 weekly.
Ask SW how that would be treated.
Also ask about COS (change of status credits)
Make sure to request a written reply.
 
Last edited:
Change of status credits are awarded when you change employment from class D to class A.
Example:-
You had been working in class D employment, moved to class A in 2002 (census). You may be awarded "change of Status" credits from the date you started the census back to the beginning of that year and 52 credits for the previous year.
These credits can only be used to help qualify for Con. State Pension
 
Hi Black Sheep. I will follow up on that as soon as I get my contribution record. Whilst rooting through some old files I came across paperwork where I had written to Social welfare several years ago requesting much of this information, but only received back partial information.

Today I went to get my public services card which will allow me access my social welfare records online and was assisted by an extremely helpful lady. Also the chap from Buncrana rang me this morning and assured me that I am entitled to Homemakers Credits from April 1994 to Feb 2012 even though I had my pension and he will forward this in writing. Delighted with that info and delighted with how helpful the Social welfare staff were . Thanks again to all here for the advice also.
 
Just to add my letter arrived promptly from Buncrana Dept of Social Protection this morning. I will not receive a credit . I t is a disregard of those years . So thats perfect. Excellent prompt service from Dept of Social Protection.
 
i now have my statement of contributions and my letter indicating a disregard for the homemakers scheme. Should I contact anybody in particular in Citizens Advice and does one generally make an appointment.
 
No appointments in citizens info, it's a walk in service and just wait. There is a mix of employees and volunteers in offices with usually a good mix of skills and if you say initially when you call in what your query is they will direct you to the person best able to answer your question. If they can't for any reason they will usually find out the answer for you and ring you if you ask.

It's a pretty common query in the offices, they even keep the forms to get your record pre printed for handing out.
 
I would do a rough calculation before going to CIC as you may not get the pension specialist on the day.
From your contrib. record :-

Add all the A contributions
Add all credits
Total of both = ?
Didvide this total by the number of years (49 - 8 homemakers =41) to get the yearly average.

Say this figure is between 20 and 29 your pension based on to day's rates would be €202.80.

As there are further pension changes in the pipeline who knows what next? and I don't have a crystal ball. Maybe we should all be saving up for our zimmer frames to get us to work
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top