I have 356 “reckonable paid contributions” for State pension purposes, made up of 204 S and 148 A1 contributions, as confirmed by the records section of the Department of Social Protection in Buncrana, Co Donegal.
In addition, I have been registered as a homemaker for a period of five years leading up to July 2019 by the Homemakers Section, also based in Buncrana.
In July 2024, I was presented with the opportunity of purchasing voluntary contributions for the four years 2019–22 inclusive and again, recently, in respect of the year 2024 by the Client Eligibility Services Section of the Department of Social Protection in Waterford, with a 12-month limit for payment.
I am finding it difficult to establish whether I have sufficient contributions paid to qualify for the lowest level of State pension once I take up the offer of purchasing the five added years.
Finally, I should point out that I have approximately seven years to run before I reach my 66th birthday.
Ms MT
The problem when you are dealing with Government departments, as you have discovered, is getting a clear answer in plain English.
I’m not suggesting there are not challenges involved. These matters are governed by legislation where language is both very precise and, unfortunately, arcane but the whole point of having customer-facing staff in these departments is that they are able to interpret sometimes complex rules to provide simple answers that are clear and can be easily understood.
Your problem here, as I understand it, is that you have been given two entirely contradictory messages from two separate offices within the same Government department.
The client eligibility service section of the Department of Social Protection has, you say, offered you the chance to purchase voluntary PRSI contributions covering the four years from 2019 to 2022 as long as you make the payment by next month – July 2025. It subsequently came back to you to offer the option of buying voluntary contributions for 2024.
I can see no way that you would be eligible to buy any of the years offered – at least on the basis of the advice I have been given by the Department
Just one of the many oddities in your situation is that they seem to have ignored 2023 altogether.
On the other hand, the Department separately says that you cannot purchase voluntary social insurance contributions at all.
Under the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012, anyone looking to purchase voluntary PRSI since April 6th, 2015 – 10 years ago – must have at least 520 paid contributions.
As you note yourself, you have just 356 stamps. Some of those are Class S, which covers self-employment and the rest are Class A, the most common PAYE class of PRSI. Both classes count towards the State pension so you are all right there, but you are 164 weekly contributions short of the minimum for buying voluntary PRSI – three years shy, in fact.
There are other issues.
You must apply within 60 months (five years) of the end of the last year in which you made either paid contributions or are covered by Home Making relief. That means if you are applying now for 2019, you would be declined as it is over five years ago. Five years from the end of 2019 would have taken you up to the end of 2024, not July 2025.
And given the five-year deadline and the fact that you have no contributions for 2020 one way or the other, I can see no way that you would be eligible to buy any of the years offered – at least on the basis of the advice I have been given by the Department.
Just to further muddy the waters, the Department tells me that “in very exceptional circumstances, this period may be extended at the discretion of the Minister”. However, as you are three years shy of the basic 520-stamp threshold, I would not entertain much hope on that front.
I would suggest you enquire about appeal processes and use those processes to the full
I had wondered whether the more recent Home Caring relief – which actually credits you with PRSI stamps for time out of the workforce caring for family – might be more useful to you as it would get you to the 520-stamp limit than Home Makers, which simply discounts those years of caring from your PRSI record without actually crediting you with stamps. However, the Department assures me Home Caring cannot be used to meet the 520-stamp threshold that would allow you to purchase voluntary PRSI.
I also enquired what would happen if you did in good faith take the client eligibility service section up on its offer of buying the PRSI cover even though, technically, you are not entitled. Would they honour it, I asked? And if not, when would you get the money you had paid in good faith back?
The Department tells me that when people apply and meet the eligibility requirements, they will be included in a billing cycle after which they have 12 months to accept.
Even though you have been given that 12 month notice, I can only assume from this that when you formally apply to take up your rights as offered, the Department will come back and say that, regretfully, you do not meet the criteria.
However, it is so messy that I wouldn’t bet on it.
Moving on to the nub of your query – will you be able to qualify for the lowest level of contributory State pension?
Well, not on the basis of voluntary PRSI purchase, it appears. And not on the basis of your current PRSI record.
However, you do have almost seven years of paid PRSI stamps and you tell me you have another seven years before you hit State pension age.
If you were to work just over three of those years, you would hit the magic 520 threshold at which you would qualify for a minimum pension – in your case 25 per cent of the full rate. On the basis of today’s weekly payment of €289.30, that would mean a weekly payment of €72.33.
Of course, you could work the whole seven years in which case you would get closer to €100 a week.
You must apply within 60 months (five years) of the end of the last year in which you made either paid contributions or are covered by Home Making relief
I know from talking to you that you are totally confused and frustrated at this point over the inability to get a simple straightforward yes or no answer from the Department.
While, understandably, they are not prepared to discuss individual cases with me – and I would not in any case be able to give them your details without your express permission – they do tell me that they are happy to look into this matter for you. I have now passed a number on to you which, hopefully, will put the issue to rest once and for all.
Given the hopeless confusion that has reigned here, whatever happens I would suggest you enquire about appeal processes and use those processes to the full, outlining the catalogue of mixed messages you have received over the past year.
It may get you nowhere, but at least that is no worse than where you now stand.
Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street Dublin 2, or by email to dominic.coyle@irishtimes.com with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice
