Vol. 450 No. 6
150 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of widows of self-employed contributors who failed to secure pensions as a result of the death of their spouse or their spouse reaching pension age prior to 1991; and the number of these that qualified for a non-contributory pension. [5424/95]
As in the case of all insurance based schemes, minimum contribution conditions have to be satisfied. To qualify for a survivor's contributory pension contributions must have been paid in respect of at least 156 contribution weeks (3 years) between the deceased person's date of entry into insurance and the date of his or her death. Entitlement can be based on either the applicant's own or their late spouse's social insurance record but the two records cannot be combined to qualify. The person must also satisfy a yearly average condition.
A widow who fails to qualify for a survivor's contributory pension can of course apply for a widow's non-contributory pension, which is payable subject to a means test. The fact that she had failed to qualify for a contributory pension would have no relevance to her application. Consequently statistics are not kept in the form requested by the Deputy.
151 Mr. M. Brennan asked the Minister for Social Welfare the amount of money a pensioner can have on deposit without affecting entitlement to the full rate of non-contributory old age pension. [5647/95]
Applicants for social assistance payments who have capital are assessed with a notional income from the capital. In relation to the old age non-contributory pension the first £200 is exempted (£400 in the case of a married or cohabiting couple), the next £375 is assessed at 5 per cent (£750 in the case of a married or cohabiting couple) and the balance at 10 per cent.
Under this assessment a person can have capital of £2,987.50 (joint capital of £5,975 in the case of a couple) and still qualify for the maximum rate of old age non-contributory pension.
