Overseas pension credits

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Laphroaig

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Hi all

I worked in the Uk from 1975 to 2004. I don’t have enough contributions for a full UK pension, it would be circa 85/90%

I don’t have anywhere near enough PRSI contributions for a full Irish pension either, but combining both that and the uk one likely would.

I worked in Australia for 12 years too.
I’m aware those years don’t have any bearing on my Irish pension calculations.

I won’t be claiming any additional benefits in Ireland. Is there any point in entering the Australia work on the pension claim form?

It won’t affect my pension but might cause delays while they go fact finding from Australia

All input appreciated
 
You could easily max out your UK pension to 100% with Voluntary Contributions, see this thread
https://www.askaboutmoney.com/forums/qualifying-for-the-uk-state-pension-bonanza.169/
You should be able to get the required 5 years at Class 2 while you were working in Oz/Ireland
If this is the case, keep separate from Irish Pension below
Try and setup an account on HMRC UK app, to see your pension forecast/NI gaps

On the Irish side, you can now work and pay PRSI until age 70 (will not affect UK Pension payment) When you get 10 years (520 full rate PRSI contribution, you should be able to get approx 25% of Irish Pension as well as above.

I know nothing of the Australian system, but we do have a bilateral agreement with them see
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/...t/social-insurance-contributions-from-abroad/
I would mention it in the application, as you might benefit and you have nothing to lose
 
Ireland has a bi-lateral Social Security Agreement with Australia. You should be able to have your years in Australia added to your Irish record.
You should contact the Dept of Social Protection Records Office in Buncrana. They can advise you as to your Australian service.
 
Quick additional question in relation to this:

Are full UK National Insurance contributions regarded as equal/similar to paid PRSI contributions for an Irish contributory pension? In other words, if you had two years of paid UK contributions would it mean 104 reckonable contributions added to the calculation here? (Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but when I search for info online I keep seeing phrases like, "may help you to qualify" etc - rather than anything definitive.)
 
No. The help you qualify if you don't have the 520 required. So if you have 7 years of Irish and 10 uk then you get 7 years worth of Irish pension. Without the UK ones you would not qualify for anything. Definitely mention the Australian ones.also apply for Australian one as you may get something.
 

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Good advice above, keep the UK separate and maximize it, use Australian and possible extension of retirement age (just relating to Irish pension) to maximize Irish pension
 
Thanks for the responses above partnership/mmclo.

* I should have made it clearer that I'm not the OP - just thought I'd ask in the thread rather than open a new one. (I've about 2 and a bit years UK contributions and may be just short of the 520 full payments here.) Thought I'd use the UKs to add to Irish contributions....it seems I can make use of both.
 
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Thanks folks

My Uk contribution are estimated to provide a weekly pension of 176 sterling
That’s about 24 years of contribution
I have 226 PRSI contributions

Combining the 2 should get me to full Irish pension, or very close to it I think

Since neither pensions are means tested snd Australia doesn’t do pension credits , I’m ok with declaring the years I worked there.
I’m just hoping it won’t delay things for months as Oz government departments aren’t known for speedy replirs
Thanks again
 
I won’t get the full Irish due to the ratio system
But if you’re saying they won’t combine UK and Irish credits, I believe you are mistaken
 
i worked in South and have 8 years there , i now live in Newry ,Northern Ireland , will i be able to claim some pension ,when i retire in a couple of years from the South? and what roughly would i expect if i qualify?
 
Laphroaig said:
But if you’re saying they won’t combine UK and Irish credits, I believe you are mistaken
Click to expand...
My understanding is that they combine them to establish if you are eligible for any kind of pension benefit (minimum of 10 years contributions to be eligible in both jurisdictions) but they don't simply combine them to calculate the pension benefit amount.

For example, if you have 7 full years contributions in each jurisdiction you wont qualify for a pension in either ....as a standalone eligibility test ...but if you combine them you will meet the 10 year eligibility rule (for both).

The pension benefit amount you will get in Ireland will be 7/40ths and in the UK 7/35ths (of the respective pension amounts at the time).

There are other variations in Ireland which may be considered for example the average calculation method and a method of calculating the combined contributions but any time I've looked at that it's disadvantageous. Hope that helps.
 
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Johncanavan said:
i worked in South and have 8 years there , i now live in Newry ,Northern Ireland , will i be able to claim some pension ,when i retire in a couple of years from the South? and what roughly would i expect if i qualify?
Click to expand...
Does the answer in post #13 above help?
 
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