Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2021
160. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of full rate pensions approved on an annual basis which have been based on level of contributions (details supplied) from 1991 to date, per contribution boundary in tabular form. [51529/21]
View answerThe figures requested by the Deputy are set out in the table below.
The Deputy may wish to note the following:
- The requested information on pension awards prior to 2010 is not readily available.
- Automatic transfers from Invalidity Pension to State Pension at State Pension Age are categorised separately. This is because a person's social insurance record is not used to calculate the State Pension rate for people in this group.
- The contribution bands above represent the full social insurance record used in assessing the SPC claim. Note that this includes credited contributions and Home Caring Periods, if these were used in calculating the pension rate.
- Once a person qualifies for the maximum rate of State Pension, it is not necessary to add further information to the Department's systems in relation to pre-1979 history, credited contributions and Home Caring Periods. This means that some people's social insurance records may in fact have been stronger than shown above.
- In April 2012, the minimum level of paid contributions required to qualify for the State Pension increased from 5 years (260 contributions) to 10 years (520 contributions).
- Self-Employed social insurance contributions commenced in 1988. By 2013, those who were in full time self-employment since 1988 had accrued 1300 paid contributions. From 2014 on, such people move from the "1041 to 1300" band to the higher "other" band.
