PRSI Contributions

I was employed in the Civil Service and I transferred my service to another organisation.

It now seems that I won't qualify for the full contributory state pension at retirement age as I won't have enough PRSI contributions at the full rate.

I contacted the Social Welfare pension section and they sent me an FAQ but did not answer my query which is can I make additional contributions now for the years I was employed in the Civil Service so that I qualify for the full state contributory pension.

Can anyone offer advice ?

You would have paid PRSI, possibly at the modified rate, while working in the Civil Service.

Yes - but the modified rate will not entitle me to the full contributory pension. This is why I would like to pay the extra amount and qualify for the full contributory pension.

The modified rate does effectively give you the full contributory pension (or its pro-rata share for less than full service). Your circumstances may be different but in theory the way it should work is this:

A civil servant on 60K pa with full 40 years service:
Post-1995 (full PRSI payment) civil servant: they get a total pension of 30K ~ 18K from the civil service scheme and 12K from the contributory pension.
Pre-1995 (modified PRSI) civil servant: they get a total of 30K ~ 30K from the civil service scheme and nothing from the contributory pension.

For someone with less than full service, benefits are pro-rated. So with 10 years service, the full PRSI civil servant gets a quarter of their benefits: 4.5K from the CS scheme plus 3K from the contributory pension for a total of 7.5K. The modified PRSI person also gets 7.5K – all from the civil service scheme. The modified person may feel that they are not entitled to a full contributory pension but part of their entitlement to the state pension is built into their deferred benefits (and should have been valued as such in any transfer).
Allowing a modified PRSI person to buy contributory pension years would effectively be double-benefit – in the example above effectively letting the modified PRSI person accrue the 7.5K civil service pension PLUS the 3K pro-rata contributory pension – when their salary/service should only entitle them to 7.5K in total for those years.

That’s the simplified version – there are other complicating issues, in particular the years to accrue a full contributory pension, what benefits any transfer does or should provide.

I think the OP's question is about her State Contributory Pension not her Civil Service Pension.

For a State Contributory Pension you cannot buy back or increase your PRSI to compensate for the years of Modified Rates (class D) paid.

If only!!

Pension office will not give a forecast because of the many changes coming down the tracks

Black Sheep said:

I think the OP's question is about her State Contributory Pension not her Civil Service Pension.

Click to expand...

Yes, I understand (and understood) that. I explained that the reason she won't have a full State Contributory Pension is that her Civil Service Pension already effectively includes State Contributory Pension for the years she worked in the civil service. So while it might appear that she is not getting e.g. 10 years of State Contributory Pension, she actually is - but it is embedded in her Civil Service Pension.

Is there any minimum employment period for qualifying for a Civil Service Pension? I worked as a Civil Servant for four years, almost 30 years ago. Have never thought about it since from a pension point of view. Will I be entitled to a 4/40 pension? Is it based on salary at the time, i.e. early 1980s = not very much?

You may have an entitlement if you were permanent - but it'll be 4/80 th not 4/40 th (pension accrues at 1/80th for each year of service).

It would be based on the salary you were on at the time.

Thanks gipimann. I meant 4/40 of a pension, yes, 4/80 of income. I think I started on €5k, probably ended on €6k. So could be worth a massive €275 or so per annum in 15 years time.

...

dub_nerd said:

Thanks gipimann. I meant 4/40 of a pension, yes, 4/80 of income. I think I started on €5k, probably ended on €6k. So could be worth a massive €275 or so per annum in 15 years time.

Click to expand...

First thing is you need a minimum of 2 years service to claim a public service pension, you have this. Also, pension for someone who started when you did is based on the current salary for the grade. Let's say you were a clerical officer and left after 4 years on point 4 of the incremental scale which at the time was 6k.

Go for forward x number of years and you have reached minimum retirement age (probably age 60) let's say point 4 for your grade is now 25k. You get 4/80ths of 25k not 4/80ths of 6k!

(I am not sure what happens if a grade gets "abolished" over time)

Basically you are talking about a preserved benefit pension. From:
[broken link removed]

If you resign before age 60 and qualify for a preserved pension and lump sum, benefits will be based on your reckonable service and your reckonable pay on the date of your resignation uprated to take account of increases in salary/wages generally between that date and your 60th birthday

Click to expand...