State Pension Question.

Hi Guys and Gals,

This is my first post so I'm sorry if I am repeating any other posts that may be up there. I have read a few and to be honest they don't make much sense to me.

My question is this: My mum will be 66 next year and should qualify for the state pension, she does not have a private pension. She rang the social welfare today to discuss and was told that she will only be entitled to 190 euro as opposed to the 220 that she thought she would get. She has worked in full time employment for the last twenty years but they told her she hasn't contributed enough to make the full pension.

Previous to this she worked in the public domain for a few years and was 'told' to leave work when she married ... as all women were at the time. She is seperated from my dad and has been for many years and has never, ever received one single penny from him.

I would really appreciate any advice you can give me as she is the most hard working woman that I know and has worked for twenty years, brought up a family on her own, never claimed from the state and now that she's coming to her pension age she can't receive a full benefit. It seems very cruel to me.

If you need any additional information please ask and I'll do my best to get it. Thanks for reading this and any advice would be very welcome.

Dooks!

Hi Dooks

State pensions are based on the number of PRSI contributions,that a person makes over their working life.
It seems that your mother hasn´t enough paid contributions to get the full pension and by all accounts she only qualifies for the reduced pension.

She may be entitled to a proportion of any private pension that your father may have if she feels inclined to pursue that avenue