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State Pension (Contributory)

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Questions (84, 89, 120)

Martin Heydon

Question:

84. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeline for reviews of post-2012 contributory pensions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46756/18]

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Aindrias Moynihan

Question:

89. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will report on the preparation works being carried out, including additional staff, needed to implement measures for correcting the post-2012 contributory pensions issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46877/18]

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Mary Butler

Question:

120. Deputy Mary Butler asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position regarding persons who have had anomalies in their pensions due to the way pension contributions have been calculated since the changes in 2012; the number of persons who have been contacted to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46861/18]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

I welcome that the process to restore post-2012 contributory pensions has started with some of the 79,000 letters now being sent out. When does the Minister expect all those letters to be sent? I ask her to update us on the timeline for the review? How long does she expect it to take? When does she hope the entire review process will be completed?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 84, 89 and 120 together.

Pensioners born on or after 1 September 1946 and affected by the 2012 changes in rate bands can have their State pension (contributory) entitlement calculated under an interim total-contributions approach. The announced changes also provide for up to 20 years of home-caring credits in the pension-entitlement calculation, for those who took time out of the workplace for parenting or caring duties.

Significant preparatory work was required to design and develop the necessary IT system changes and the necessary legislative provisions to underpin these changes, as published in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill last week.

The most recent data, which became available at the end of October, identified approximately 79,000 pensioners to be reviewed under this new system. Of these, over 70,000 reside in Ireland. The first 11,000 information letters issued last week to Irish residents. I expect the remainder to issue by the end of this week or early next week at the latest. More than 8,000 pensioners resident outside of Ireland are expected to receive letters in December.

The letter informs pensioners that my Department will contact them again directly with either the outcome of their individual review, where sufficient information is available to make a decision for them, or to request further information regarding gaps in their social insurance record. However, it is not necessary for anyone to contact the Department on this matter; we will do the contacting of the recipients.

Over 60 temporary staff have been recruited to examine the social insurance records of these pensioners. This phase is expected to continue to the end of the year. Following further recruitment planned for January 2019, reviews and payments will commence in the first quarter of next year. It will take my Department a number of months to work through the reviews and the payments.

Where an increase is awarded, it will be paid immediately and backdated to 30 March 2018, or the person's 66th birthday, if later, and arrears will be paid. Pensioners who do not qualify for an increase will continue to receive their existing rate of entitlement.

That is very informative. We have discussed this in the House previously. It is an issue of major concern to the people affected and communicating the information to them properly is key. Those letters as they arrive this week and next week will be very much welcomed. I ask the Minister to confirm if the 79,000 covers everybody who is in receipt of a post-2012 pension.

I am sure this project is a logistical nightmare. How many staff are working on these reviews? Does the Minister hope to be able to gather all the information from the time spent caring from the Department's records or does she envisage the Department will need to go back? Will the pensioners be given the opportunity or be expected to provide information themselves? I know the Minister has said that initially the Department does not need that information back. What happens in the case where somebody does not get a letter? Do they have a means to be able to contact the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to inform it that they believe they should have got a letter?

The information letters will issue to approximately 79,000 contributory pensioners. We have identified them because they are receiving less than 100% of a pension since the changes were made in 2012. The first 11,000 information letters issued last week and the remainder will issue this week or next week at the latest. People do not need to do anything for us because in the main we can already tell from our records whether they are entitled to an increase. For the vast majority of people, probably between 65% and 70% of the people who are due to get letters, we will know between now and Christmas whether they are entitled to an increase because of the records already in situ.

We will be inviting those people who have gaps to log onto mywelfare.ie to fill in those gaps for us. For example, a lady may have taken out ten years in the 1970s or 1980s to look after her children, but we may not have a record of her children. There are many reasons why people might have been out of the system caring. Heretofore it would only have been looking after children. This particular caring credit could relate to an elderly relative, for example a parent, an uncle or an aunt.

Where there are gaps in our records, we will invite people to fill in the gaps and then we will conduct the review. Anybody who is due the increase will get the increase backdated in quarter one next year. Anybody who is not due an increase will remain on the payment they are on.

I thank the Minister. I am also mindful of the fact that when this is reported in the media, females are probably discussed but between 25% and 30% of those affected are male, many of whom left the country in the 1980s to work in England when there was no employment here. They sent pay packets home but had that break in contributions. They are as badly affected. At the end of the process, if somebody feels they were entitled to an increase but the Department has adjudicated they are not, will there be an appeals mechanism or will there be some way for them to argue that point?

People who left the country to go to work in another country can avail of the credits. If there is a reciprocal arrangement between the country the person went to work in and Ireland, he or she can arrange for his or her credits to be included on his or her record. The gaps can only be filled in this system by caring credits. People who went to work, say, in London will not be able to come home and say they were missing. They have to know who they were caring for and the period of time they were caring. They can give us that information on a bona fides basis. There are some people who will not be able to prove that in 1974 they were doing something but we will accept their bona fides. As with everything, there is an appeals process. If a person does not feel we have been satisfied about the gaps in their records, they can sit down with us. I hope that during the review process over the next couple of months and through the interactive website we have established, mywelfare.ie, they will be able to provide us with all of the information and we will go and check it out. If there are any anomalies, we will talk to people. The ultimate aim of the Parliament was to recognise there were people who were getting less of a pension than they should have as a result of the rate changes made in 2012. We want to rectify it from 30 March next year which is what we will do.

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