PRSI and credits

[Bastita]

I have worked in U.K mostly and will qualify for pension there when I reach 66 in 18 months time. I have also got 468 credits here in R.O.I. I last worked here in 2006 and returned back to Irl in August 2023. I haven't worked since I left England. Beside going back into employment is there anyway I can make up the 52 credits pls?
Thanks.

 

[Zobeda]

There's others here with far more knowledge than me, but my understanding is that in order to qualify for some reduced contributory pension you must have at least 520 paid contributions.

Credits only become useful once there's 520 paid contributions on your record.

 

[Bastita]

Yes thank you. I am aware of the 520 rule. I believe I am not entitled to sign for credits or pay voluntary contributions as I haven't worked here in Irl since 2006. Dont relish idea of going to work here but would be a pity to lose out on a small Irish pension.

 

[Dr Strangelove]

Do you have a friend or family member who could employ you as part of their business?

I’m open to correction but PRSI payable on as little as €38 a week.

 

[Zobeda]

So the 468 "credits"you referred to are actually paid contributions?

That renders my reply redundant.

 

[Bastita]

No unfortunately not .
I think I would have to earn in excess of 352 euro a week to get a- A class stamp which is my last paid stamp.

 

[S class]

I think I would have to earn in excess of 352 euro a week to get a- A class stamp which is my last paid stamp.

If you earn a minimum of 38 euro per week you will gain a paid class A Prsi contribution.

You won't pay any Prsi but your employer will pay Prsi on your earnings and this employer payment gains you the class A paid contribution.


You need to carefully check your Prsi record to check how many of your Prsi contributions are reckonable paid contributions.

You can gain paid class A contributions on earnings of a minimum of 38 euro per week up to age 70.

You have scope to gain approximately 286 paid contributions up to age 70.

 

[Bastita]

OK thanks. My brother has a business so maybe able to work something out.

 

[AndroidMan]

There's others here with far more knowledge than me, but my understanding is that in order to qualify for some reduced contributory pension you must have at least 520 paid contributions.

Credits only become useful once there's 520 paid contributions on your record.

Out of interest..

520 credits = 10 years contributions and then you qualify. Thats understood.
What if somebody has 20, 30 or 40 years credits?
Does that make any difference To the pension amount paid to them?
Does the pension scale up based on credits to a max of 40 years?
Or is it 10 years credits and you just get the full pension?
If not, is there a table that defines this, I have googled it, looked on citizen info etc and can find no info.

 

[Forumuser]

Out of interest..

520 credits = 10 years contributions and then you qualify. Thats understood.
What if somebody has 20, 30 or 40 years credits?
Does that make any difference To the pension amount paid to them?
Does the pension scale up based on credits to a max of 40 years?
Or is it 10 years credits and you just get the full pension?
If not, is there a table that defines this, I have googled it, looked on citizen info etc and can find no info.

There are credits and there are contributions:
You pay contributions when you work.
You get credits while being on SW payments under certain conditions.
You need 520 paid contributions to get a minimum pension payment.
If you have those 520 paid contributions you can use your credits as well to boost your pension. At the moment you can use all your credits- theoretically 30 years on top of your 520 paid contributions to get a full pension.
There will be a cap on the credits you can use- it will be only 520 SW credits within 11 years time. A lot of changes coming in now.

Everything is explained here- and not too hard to understand:

State Pension (Contributory)

The State Pension (Contributory), previously called the Old Age (Contributory) Pension, is payable to people aged 66 and over who have worked and paid enough social insurance contributions.

www.citizensinformation.ie

Operational Guidelines: State Pension Contributory

www.gov.ie

 

[elcato]

Have you an Irish pension you could cash into an ARF at 65 ? If so this would suffice to get another 52 stamps (class S).

 

[AndroidMan]

There are credits and there are contributions:
You pay contributions when you work.
You get credits while being on SW payments under certain conditions.
You need 520 paid contributions to get a minimum pension payment.
If you have those 520 paid contributions you can use your credits as well to boost your pension. At the moment you can use all your credits- theoretically 30 years on top of your 520 paid contributions to get a full pension.
There will be a cap on the credits you can use- it will be only 520 SW credits within 11 years time. A lot of changes coming in now.

Everything is explained here- and not too hard to understand:

State Pension (Contributory)

The State Pension (Contributory), previously called the Old Age (Contributory) Pension, is payable to people aged 66 and over who have worked and paid enough social insurance contributions.

www.citizensinformation.ie

Operational Guidelines: State Pension Contributory

www.gov.ie

Yes, I mixed up credits and contributions.
It is still not clear to me looking at those two links.

At point of reaching pension age, it seems you need to have 520 contributions (10 years) to qualify for the "minimum" pension.
What is meant by the minimum?

Say 4 people have 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of contributions.

Does the guy that contributed 10 years get less than the 20, 30 and 40 years guy?
If so, by what proportion?
Is there a table that describes the number of contributions vs the pension amout received.

I will have around 25 years paid when I reach 66, so just curious what % of the pension at that time I will get.

 

[JohnMM]

I have worked in U.K mostly and will qualify for pension there when I reach 66 in 18 months time. I have also got 468 credits here in R.O.I. I last worked here in 2006 and returned back to Irl in August 2023. I haven't worked since I left England. Beside going back into employment is there anyway I can make up the 52 credits pls?
Thanks.

You could set up a company and set yourself up as an employee, and thereby generate contributions for low costs. A little bit of effort involved but it is an easy solution.

 

[Marsupial]

At point of reaching pension age, it seems you need to have 520 contributions (10 years) to qualify for the "minimum" pension.
What is meant by the minimum?

It all depends on how many years of being in the PRSI system those 520 contributions are spread over. So, if you started paying PRSI at age 20, then by age 66, you would have been in the system for 46 years. 520 contributions divided by 46 years would give you a yearly average of 11 contributions, putting you in the minimum (10-14) band in the following table:

State Pension (Contributory) rates in 2024 for people who qualified after 1 September 2012

Yearly average PRSI contributions	Personal rate per week
48 or over	€277.30
40-47	€271.90
30-39	€249.30
20-29	€236.10
15-19	€180.70
10-14	€110.80

Say 4 people have 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of contributions.
Does the guy that contributed 10 years get less than the 20, 30 and 40 years guy?
Is there a table that describes the number of contributions vs the pension amout received.

See my above explanation and the above table. Someone who has worked for 40 years would have 2080 (40*52) contributions. So their yearly average would get them into the top band and they'd get the full pension. That's under the current system.

Under the new system, a full pension is payable to anyone with 40 (or more) years of contributions.
For 30 years of contributions, they'd get 75% of the full pension, for 20 years = 50%, and so on down to the 10 year (entry level) where they'd get 25%.

I will have around 25 years paid when I reach 66, so just curious what % of the pension at that time I will get.

25 years of PAID RECKONABLE CONTRIBUTIONS (all of those words are important) would, under the new system, entitle you to 25/40ths (62.5%) of the full State Contributory Pension.

Under the old system, you'd need to divide your total number of reckonable contributions by the number of "contribution years" that you have. (SIMPLIFIED EXAMPLE: if you paid your first contribution in 1980 and you will be 66 in 2026 then your number of contribution years is 2025-1980 = 46). So your yearly average would be [25 years * 52 weeks = 1300 / 46 years] = 28. This would put you in the 20 - 29 yearly average band, worth €236.00 a week.

 

[Forumuser]

Yes, I mixed up credits and contributions.
It is still not clear to me looking at those two links.

At point of reaching pension age, it seems you need to have 520 contributions (10 years) to qualify for the "minimum" pension.
What is meant by the minimum?

Say 4 people have 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of contributions.

Does the guy that contributed 10 years get less than the 20, 30 and 40 years guy?
If so, by what proportion?
Is there a table that describes the number of contributions vs the pension amout received.

I will have around 25 years paid when I reach 66, so just curious what % of the pension at that time I will get.

ALL your questions are answered in the supplied links! It is really not rocket science!
Minimum payment is at the moment Euro 110.80 under the old system and Euro 67.60 under the new system.
The more you contribute, the more you get.

The pay increase is in bands in the old system. And it is in weeks under the new system.

I do not know when you reach pension age. So I cannot tell you what you will get for your 25 years because of the changes taking place in the coming 11 years.
If you reach 66 in 2034 or after that year you will be completely in the new system. You say that you will have 25 years paid by that time. I'll take it that you have no credits clocked up. 25 years equals 25x52 contributions or 1300 contributions. The full pension is given for 40 years- or 40x52weeks=2080 contributions. Your share is 62.5%. Under current payment rates you would get 62.5% of Euro 277.70 or Euro 173.75.

 

[AndroidMan]

Ok. Keep your hair on!
@Marsupial - Your response made more sense and I do thank you for that.

 

[Marsupial]

@Marsupial - Your response made more sense and I do thank you for that.

Cheers. To be honest, it's even more complicated than I have described above, due both to the slow changover to the new method of calculating pensions, and to the various types of reckonable credits that you may or may not have received during your working life! But it will give you a ballpark estimate of what you're likely to receive.