Many social welfare benefits in this country are paid only after means-testing or because sufficient PRSI contributions have been paid. On November 21st, the rules determining who is eligible for an Old Age Contributory Pension - as set out in the last Budget - will change; an additional 4,000 people over the age of 66 will finally qualify for the first time for this pension while another 4,500 existing pensioners will qualify for a higher rate of pension. Each year thereafter an additional 1,300 pensioners will be included in the contributory pensions list. The new Pro-Rata Old Age (Contributory) Pension, as it will be known from next November, will result in pensions for people with a yearly average of just 10 PRSI contributions, instead of the 20 contributions required up to now. From November anyone over 66 with between 15 and 19 yearly contributions will receive £58.50 per week (i.e. 75 per cent of the maximum £78 a week rate) while an average of between 10 and 14 contributions will result in a pension of £39 a week (50 per cent of the maximum.) To qualify for the increase, the person with an average of between 10 and 19 annual contributions will be required to have paid a total of 260 contributions, as opposed to 156 at present.
Other benefits for new qualifiers will include a full rate qualified adult allowance if their spouse does not have income over £60 a week and is not getting a Social Welfare payment of their own, up from the current weekly allowance of £51 for those under age 66 and £55.40 for those over 66. The free electricity/natural gas allowances, free TV licence and telephone rental allowance will also be further extended (though this is subject to some conditions, says the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs).
he Department says that the people most likely to benefit from the amended contributory pension provisions are women who have spent many years away from the paid workforce, returned emigrants and people who entered Social Insurance at an early age and then were self-employed for a long period before 1988 when Social Insurance for the self-employed was introduced. Using the example of a woman who worked for a total of 12 years between 19551965 and 1993 to 1995 and has 624 contributions in total (or an average of 16 per year based on a potential 40-year working life) the pro-rate pension she will be entitled to is now £58.50 Under the old system, she would have required at least an average of 20 contributions a year before being entitled to any contributory pension. The Department is writing to social welfare pensioners who are currently receiving the reduced pension but suggest that anyone who thinks they may now qualify to contact it immediately at (01) 704 3334.
