Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
122. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which she might review applicants previously refused for the State pension (contributory) on the basis of insufficiency of contributions, with a view to allowing payments on a pro-rata basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33079/23]
View answerA person must have at least 520 full-rate paid contributions to qualify for standard State pension Contributory. A full pension is payable provided a person has a contribution record of 40 years and a reduced pension is payable if a person has more than 10 but less than 40 years contributions.At present the calculation of the reduced pension rate is performed using either a yearly average method (where the person’s contributions are divided by the number of years since a person first started making contributions) or by a Total Contributions method. The Total Contributions method provides a pure pro-rata payment for a person with more than 10 but less than 40 years contributions. The Department calculates a person’s entitlement under both methods and awards the person the higher of the two amounts.At the time the Total Contributions option was introduced a review was conducted of people already in payment and their pension was adjusted if it yielded a better outcome. It is intended to phase out the yearly average approach and move to a fully total contributions approach over a 10 year period starting next year. In addition it is proposed to grant people who cared for an incapacitated person for 20 years or more with attributed contributions. This will enable them to meet the 10 years contribution threshold.It should be noted that, if a person does not satisfy the conditionality to qualify for a contributory State Pension, they may qualify for the means-tested State Pension Non-Contributory, the maximum rate of which is over 95% of the rate of the State Pension Contributory. Alternatively, an Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) is paid, generally, where a pensioner has an adult dependent who does not have enough contributions to claim a maximum rate State Pension Contributory in his or her own right. The payment rate for the IQA is up to 90% of a full contributory pension.I do not propose to undertake a review of those who were previously refused State Pension (Contributory) on the basis that they did not have the minimum of 10 years of contributions as I believe it is reasonable to require people claiming a contributory pension to have made at least 10 years of paid contributions, over the term of their working life, before qualifying for a payment. In addition the Department does not record the reason a person did not have the minimum of 10 years contributions so it would not be possible to identify those people already over pension age who might now qualify if prior periods of caring are taken into account. However, my Department will run a national media campaign later this year on the pension reforms. It will be open to individuals to re-apply for State Pension (contributory) if they feel they then meet the criteria, including if they can demonstrate a long-period of caring for an incapacitated person.I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
