parent near retirement

hi
i'm hoping i can get some information on here in relation to my mother's pension when she reaches 65 next year. she worked before she had a family and one of my brothers has special needs so she went back to work (part time) after he finished school. i don't think she will have enough credits to get the contributory state pension, i'm not sure of the headings on her pension credits statement but i assume its the "credited contributons" row which are the credits used?? what is the difference between the "reckonable paid" and "reckonable credited" columns?? and lastly, my father is a retired teacher. i think they are jointly assessed for tax so will his pension affect hers?
thanks

A paid contribution would represent a working week, when your mother paid PRSI.
A credited contribution would represent a credit to her record if she was on a Social Welfare payment.

Both can be counted towards pension eligibility.

Pension age is currently 66, not 65.

Her insurance \ PRSI record before having a family will also be counted.
Since 1994, years taken out of the workforce to care for children can be disregarded when calculating the average number of yearly contributions.
A minimum number of average yearly contributions are needed to qualify for a pension.

Paid contributions are ones deducted from your wages. Credited contributions are ones that you get usually when in receipt of a social welfare payment such as unemployment benefit or assistance. Both of them can count toward pension entitlements. There are certain classes of contributions that don't, but anything showing up as "reckonable contributions for pension" should count. So, for instance, the 2001 row on your statement is a full years worth of 52 reckonable contributions, even though it looks like only 38 of them are Class A contributions from employment.

The non-contributory pension is means tested, so if your mother only qualifies for that then yes, your father's income will significantly affect it. If she qualifies for a contributory pension it is not means tested. That is the main difference between the two, as the amounts are not otherwise vastly different.

thanks guys. i think she is going to go into the citizens information to be able to speak with someone on the matter as it is very confusing!

Based on the section of the record shown it appears she will be entitled to at least part pension. That section shows 465 payments & credits combined, enough to give her the basic level. I suspect there is much more to this record which should increase her rate.

Depending on the level of pension payable to her it may not have any adverse effects on her husbands pension as she will be entitled to a PAYE tax credit in her own right.