Stay at home Mother gets nothing

How come a Mother who stays at home rearing her family the toughest job in the world gets noting, for example if she looks for the pension she will be means tested.

Re: Stay at home Mother gets noting

What pension are you referring to? Hopefully she'll be finished rearing her family when she turns 65.

Is this a straightforward query or a Letting Off Steam issue?

Re: Stay at home Mother gets noting

ClubMan said:

What pension are you referring to? Hopefully she'll be finished rearing her family when she turns 65.

Is this a straightforward query or a Letting Off Steam issue?

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What happen to her at 65 when she has her family reared after giving her life working at home, Mother that stay at home looking after her faimly have no stamps.

Hi Scan - I don't know much about the social welfare entitlements. Hopefully other posters will answer your questions.

However, I'm wondering how realistic the scenario of the mother rearing to the family to age 65 is? Surely many mothers will have their rearing done much earlier. For example, my mother in law has returned to work now in her fifties and is earning her stamps.

Also, isn't there an obligation on the family to meet this requirement? Even in cases of seperation or divorce, the pension entitlements of the breadwinner are usually divided between both parties.

Presumably stay at home mothers are eligible to receive the [broken link removed] Pension?

Hello there Scan. I've searched the OASIS site to see if there was anything there that might help you. Eligibility for a Contributory Retirement Pension seems to depend (1) On the number of years when you paid PRSI prior to leaving the workforce (2) If you return to the paid workforce it might be possible to build up enough PRSI contributions for a pension in your own right and (3) Homemakers's credits.

A Non-Contributory Pension is means tested as you wrote yourself so that doesn't answer your question.

OASIS - Old Age Non-Contributory Pension
If you are married or you are living with your spouse or if you are living with someone as husband and wife, we will include the means of your spouse or partner for the means test.

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Your post highlights one of the reasons why young married women today are reluctant to leave the paid workforce - the lack of an income/pension in their own right which doesn't seem fair. When means testing of Child Benefit was mooted some years ago, the ICA said then that CB was often the only income some married women had and so that was dropped. Those women, it was claimed, were often married to high earners. It does seem extraordinary that only by divorce or separation does a spouse acquire automatic right to half of the working partner's pension; therein lies a minefield!

There is a Homemakers scheme whereby a women who stays home to care for children (up to 12 years of age) can receive Homemakers's credits which, it seems, are taken into account when assessing eligibility for a pension. http://www.welfare.ie/publications/sw1.html#2 I read somewhere on OASIS that up to 20 years of home-making could be disregarded when calculating eligibility.

You might also find something useful on this link about Contributory Pensions http://www.welfare.ie/publications/sw18.html#2