Worked over 50 years. Are only 40 years contributions taken in to account when assessin entitlement?

My wife started work in 1969 aged 16. Next year 2019 she will reach 66. A total of 50 years on off, at work.

I see that that the term of 40 years working is often referred to in official documents about years worked to get a pension.

My wife had some gaps during her 50 years at work when she did not make any paid contributions nor receive any credit contributions.

Can she pick and choose 40 of her 50 years contributions when applying for her contributory pension and disregard 10 of those years when she had no contributions?

You add up the number of contributions she paid, total is 52 for a full year and divide by no of years from date she first worked to the December before her 66th birthday.

Keant1591 said:

You add up the number of contributions she paid, total is 52 for a full year and divide by no of years from date she first worked to the December before her 66th birthday.

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It seems unfair that she is assessed over a 50 year work life when others can get a full pension based on a 40 year working life.

Is it not possible to take out her "best" record of contributions over 40 years during her 50 year working life?

Under the current Social Welfare rules the entitlement to a State Pension is based on a concept of “totals and averages”.
First you need to get your record of PRSI contributions from the Dept . Their records office is based in Buncranna.
A full years contribution is 52 weeks. So you add up all the contributions and you divide this number by the number of years in the system - so 50 in this case. To get the maximum State Pension you need an average of 48 contributions pa. If there are gaps in the history, then the average is likely to be less. But for example if the average was between 40 and 47, then the entitlement is 98% of the State Pension. If the average is between 30 and 39 then the entitlement is 90%. If less than 30 then the % reduces to a greater extent.
If there are gaps due to minding children (under age 12) there may be an entitlement to credits (currently post 1994). The Dept are currently reviewing the credit system for child minding and additional credits may be granted in the coming months ( for periods prior to 1994) which might improve the “average” number.
The “total and averages” system is possibly due for change in 2020, and it is proposed to move to a “total contribution “ approach where 40 years will be required for a full State Pension, with a proportionally reduced pension if less than 40 years.
I hope this helps.

Thanks. We got her record from the Department of her contributions.

During the period 1976 to 1989. She has a strange record of "credited" contributions. 12, 22, 45, 14, nil, 8, 21, 10, 45, 52, 38, 47, 52, 18.

My wife says that she would have definitely "signed on" for a full 52 weeks each year. She cannot understand how some years she only has 21 or 10 or 38. When signing on she doesn't remember getting a receipt or similar. Someone just entered her name in a book. Could there be errors here?

In 2020 if contributions are moved to a "total" contributions system based on a 40 year working life, what happens to a person who has a 50 years working life? Will the department choose the "best" 40 years of contributions that a person has made, I wonder?

I cannot comment on the credited contributions without more detail, but perhaps she should query this with the Dept. When you say that she “signed-on”, on what basis (receiving “unemployment benefit”?).
If she is retiring in 2019, then the current system is the starting point. What is her “average” based on her current record?
We don’t yet have clarity over the post 2020 rules, assuming the new “total contribution approach” is introduced. Will 2019 retirees be able to choose the better of the two systems??? Not clear.

Between 78 & 89 is there only credited contributions or did she have paid contributions for the other weeks? Did she work during those years?

Thanks Conan. My wife remembers signing on in her local Garda station some of the time. She was not receiving unemployment benefit, just signing on, to keep her credits going. I wonder if signing on in her local Garda station is the reason why she has only partial years of contributions recorded. Were they never updated, I wonder?

Currently my wife has officially "paid" contributions of 732 and credits of 893 over 50 years, Total 1625. This gives her an average of 32 p.a.

However during 1976 to 1989 she was at home rearing her children but also making the weekly trek to sign on for credits. As mentioned above her record of signing on during this period is strange, with odd amounts credited. If the Homemakers contributions are backdated to before 1994 then I assume all her odd years of credits will be increased to 52 per annum anyway. This would increase her credits by 544 bringing her total contributions up to 2169 or 43 per annum.

Monbretia said:

Between 78 & 89 is there only credited contributions or did she have paid contributions for the other weeks? Did she work during those years

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No she did not work. She only has credit contributions. She is 100% certain that she signed on for 52 weeks of the year during that period. Mostly at her local Garda station.

Bronco how many paid contributions had she, credited contributions are only counted once you have paid contributions of 520. If you look at citizens information website you will see how much pension she will get based on different averages. It might be a case she’d be better off just claiming as a dependent based on your pension? 2018 would be her last year to get up more contributions.
I’ve seen people move here at 55 working for 10 years and getting a full pension. It’s not fair but that’s the rules as it stands.

Bronco Lane said:

However during 1976 to 1989 she was at home rearing her children but also making the weekly trek to sign on for credits

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More power to your wife signing on for 13 years by making trips to the local social welfare office or Garda station while also rearing a family.
It seems that those people who didn't sign on during that period and who stayed at home rearing a family may get the benefit of full credit contributions based on the Homemakers policy.
I wonder should the "sign on " credit be a stronger value "credit" than those who stayed at home because she made the trip?

Sorry just read your previous post. 1625 puts her in the 30-40 bracket. To get to 40-47 bracket she would have needed 2000 so that 375 short of moving up a bracket or 7 full years.

Bronco Lane said:

My wife remembers signing on in her local Garda station some of the time.

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Well that brings back a memory. I think if you lived more than six miles from your social welfare office you could sign on in your local Garda station.

How can a person check to see if the Garda sign on's were properly added in to the system/

Could you sign on indefinitely for years like that just for credits? I signed for just a year for credits few years back and you had to be looking for work but maybe it was different back then.

Monbretia said:

Could you sign on indefinitely for years like that just for credits? I signed for just a year for credits few years back and you had to be looking for work but maybe it was different back then.

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Well I did. Employers didn't want to know that I had young children at home and weren't prepared to offer me a job.

I certainly hope that when I signed on in the Garda station that my records were properly updated.

http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/TotalContributionsApproach_PensionerScenarios.pdf

This looks like an update to the 1994 rules?