Am I entitled to receive a Supplementary Pension in respect of the Widows Contributory Pension to bring my pension equivilent to a person who paid Class D PRSI assuming we have the same service record
I am not familiar with this exact situation but I am fairly sure you are not entitled to a Supplementary Pension in these circumstances.
An example might illustrate.
Mary has worked in the public service part-time for 18 years, accumulating 12 years of pensionable service. She has also worked in the private sector and has over 2080 full rate Class A contributions. Mary's is in receipt of a widow's contributory pension based on her husband's PRSI record.
Mary will retire at 65 on a pensionable salary of €70,000. Just say the State Pension at retirement date is €16,000.
Mary's Occupational Pension can be approximately estimated as:
(70,000 * 12/80) - (16,000 *12/40) = 10,500 - 4,800 = €5,700.
Mary receives this Occupational Pension in addition to whatever benefits her PRSI records entitle her in accordance with current DSP rules. At 66 Mary will be entitled to a State Pension of €16,000 pa in addition to her Occ Pension so there is no Supplementary Pension.
Under current DSP rules Mary cannot receive both a widow's pension and a state pension - she gets whichever one is most favourable to her.
I am not sure of Mary's situation between 65 and 66 but I assume she will get either the Widow's Pension or the Over 65 Payment but not both. On the other hand if Mary stayed in employment for this year she could continue to receive the Widow's Pension along with her salary. It does seem like an anomaly but those are the rules.