Living in Ireland for 24 years but don't qualify for state pension.

C

Comerford

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I have been in touch with both pension people in Ireland and the UK. Ireland have told me that I don't qualify for a pension in Ireland as I dot have enough stamps - only worked 4.5 years here. I have been raising children for over 20 years. I thought that I would get stamps for these years that I was caring for my children but apparently I don't until I work another 10 years full time which is not possible. This has concerned me.

So I contacted the UK government pensions department and I do qualify for state pension in the UK but only currently at £62.69 per week. I have received my forecast and can increase this but I have gone back and forth trying to work out which application form I need to send to the UK in order to make voluntary contributions to fill in gaps and make payments for the future. I am not working in Ireland so I believe I can make class 3 voluntary contributions. Can you advise which application form I need to complete please? Is it NI38 or a different form?

Can I also ask if the 2 lots of stamps - UK and Ireland can be combined when I'm at pension age and if so how do I find out what my payments forecast per week would be? Who can tell me this? Ireland or UK? I've had various government people in Ireland tell me yes and others tell me no. It's all been very confusing.

I was unable to do government gateway ID as I only have 1 form of UK ID - my passport. They require at least 2. It has been next to impossible to get through to anyone in the UK via telephone.

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated as I am worried I will be left with just £62 per week pension.
 
Comerford said:
I have been in touch with both pension people in Ireland and the UK. Ireland have told me that I don't qualify for a pension in Ireland as I dot have enough stamps - only worked 4.5 years here. I have been raising children for over 20 years. I thought that I would get stamps for these years that I was caring for my children but apparently I don't until I work another 10 years full time which is not possible. This has concerned me.
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The rules in Ireland is that you need a minimum of 10 years full stamps (520) before you can get a pension. This is also the case for adding the child-minding years to get more eligible stamps. Depending on your age it may be possible for you to work 5.5 more years to achieve this ? It doesn't have to be full time work, just a minimum of about €40 paid employment a week.
Check out the forum on topping up UK pension for help on the UK pension. We do have a non-contributary pension in Ireland which would be means tested so if your only income would be £62 a week you would be entitled to a top-up at least.
 
You pay Prsi in Ireland up to age 70.

If you are aged 64 or under and get employment of at least 38 euro per week up to age 70 you could qualify.
 
As a minimum you can combine social insurance contributions from both countries to “qualify” for an Irish State pension. If the total is 10 years and based on your current Irish contributions (PRSI) you should be entitled to a contributory weekly Irish state pension of €277.30 (current rate) divided by 40 and multiplied by 4.5….€31.19.
Any improvement in the 4.5 years between now and age 66 will have a direct affect on your Irish weekly benefit. I think I’m right saying this but better informed people may correct me.

Regarding making voluntary contributions to the UK there is only one form. NI38 is the guidance. The application form itself is called CF83. The response you get will inform you whether you have to pay at class 2 or 3 for all the relevant years you are entitled to pay. The basic principle is that you pay at class 2 for years when you were working in Ireland, class 3 when not. You can pick and choose which years to pay including all of them. Hope that helps.

Time spent now could have a significant impact on your retirement income but bear in mind the comment from Elacto above that you might be entitled to a full Irish non contributory pension based on a means test. Possibly this could be more than whatever steps you take now to boost your contributory pension entitlements.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments. Looks like I need to go back into some kind of employment.
Does anyone know if there is an option to make voluntary contributions to the Irish pension?
 
You would need 520 paid contributions to qualify for making voluntary contributions.
I don't know if foreign paid contributions would be allowed.

If you cannot qualify for voluntary contributions you would need 5.5 more years of Irish employment.
 
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