State benefit payment at 65

[S class]

Just reference my last post re 65 benefit payment. I was talking to a lady in my local intreo office and she told me i didnt qualify for this payment because i didnt have 13 paid contributions in both years 2020 and 2021 only in 2020. I clearly misread the qualifying requirements as I took the meaning of the two years before the governing year to be either and not both. Anyone else any thoughts on this. Thanks

As usual the wording is confusing.

I have up to now interpreted this as 13 paid in any one of the three seperate years listed.

But now I am wondering what the statement actually means.

Does any one of the following years actually refer to the individual three seperate periods of one year. Or does it refer to either of the two listed periods.

One period of two years (24 months) and one period of 1 year (12 months)

The best I can figure is, if it refers to three seperate years, then 13 paid in any one of these years should allow a person to qualify.

If it refers to any of the two periods of time listed then a person should qualify if they have 13 paid in the period of 24 months.

If this is the case then the 13 paid spans 24 months and could actually be spread into the two separate years. (7 in one calender year and 6 in the next calender year for instance)

Either way I reckon she must be mistaken.



The guidelines are worded as below....

If a person does not have 13 paid contributions in the Governing Contribution Year (GCY) he/she must have the 13 contributions paid in any one of the following years:

• The two tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year

This is the wording from Citizens Advice.......

*If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, you must have paid 13 contributions in any of the following years:

• The 2 tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year
• The current tax year.

Any of the years or time periods of years ?
Any time period could contain one or more years.
Any year is a singular year.

In the qualification rules for Jobseekers Benefit the 13 paid Prsi contributions are required to be in a period of one tax year.

 

[Peterd]

As usual the wording is confusing.

I have up to now interpreted this as 13 paid in any one of the three seperate years listed.

But now I am wondering what the statement actually means.

Does any one of the following years actually refer to the individual three seperate periods of one year. Or does it refer to either of the two listed periods.

One period of two years (24 months) and one period of 1 year (12 months)

The best I can figure is, if it refers to three seperate years, then 13 paid in any one of these years should allow a person to qualify.

If it refers to any of the two periods of time listed then a person should qualify if they have 13 paid in the period of 24 months.

If this is the case then the 13 paid spans 24 months and could actually be spread into the two separate years. (7 in one calender year and 6 in the next calender year for instance)

Either way I reckon she must be mistaken.



The guidelines are worded as below....

If a person does not have 13 paid contributions in the Governing Contribution Year (GCY) he/she must have the 13 contributions paid in any one of the following years:

• The two tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year

This is the wording from Citizens Advice.......

*If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, you must have paid 13 contributions in any of the following years:

• The 2 tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year
• The current tax year.

Any of the years or time periods of years ?
Any time period could contain one or more years.
Any year is a singular year.

In the qualification rules for Jobseekers Benefit the 13 paid Prsi contributions are required to be in a period of one tax year.

Yes I agree I think she is mistaken because on the official government website it states a requirement of 13 paid contributions with three options where I think she may have erred is by looking at the OR option if I didn't satisfy any of these three options which requires 26 paid contributions in two different years if you check out the mygov website you will see exactly what I mean

 

[S class]

Yes I agree I think she is mistaken because on the official government website it states a requirement of 13 paid contributions with three options where I think she may have erred is by looking at the OR option if I didn't satisfy any of these three options which requires 26 paid contributions in two different years if you check out the mygov website you will see exactly what I mean

Yes I think this is correct. I have given this information to a few other posters and I hope I haven't mislead them.

 

[Peterd]

Just a further update to my benefit at 65 query. I went up to my local social welfare and citizens advice centre on Monday last. They both informed me that I will qualify as the 13 paid prsi contributions required if you don't have them in your governing contribution year which in my case is 2022 can be in either of the two previous years 2020 or 2021 I have the required amount in 2020. I think the lady in the intreo centre last week although very helpful wasn't really very familiar with this benefit as she had to keep consulting an information booklet. So basically to simplify things 63 is your governing year and 61 or 62 will suffice for 13 paid credits if you need them. I'm just laying it all out simplified if anyone else is in the same position as myself. Please feel free to comment thanks

 

[Freelance]

Frankly it's a disgrace that the rules around the Over 65 Benefit payment, which is barely 3 years in existence, have been allowed to become so convoluted. Little wonder that there is confusion when there are differences in the requirements on this page and this page, both from the DSP section of gov.ie. And the requirements set out on Citizens Information are different again. And my experience of requesting clarification regarding my entitlement was the same as yours. Helpful staff that were out of their depth. I feel really sorry for those who are less confident and less able to stick up for themselves. Had I not been pretty self assured I would have been denied this payment, to which I was fully entitled. As a department, the DSP in my experience have a very poor and misguided attitude, seeing their role as being to deny applicants payments for any possible reason rather than working proactively to assist people in accessing their entitlements. Their communications skills are also woeful.

 

[Des Pondent]

Admittedly, I am a very straight forward case having worked many years up until the week before my recent 65th birthday.

I have a verified MyGoveID account so I could apply on line, it took about 2 minutes. Two days later I was approved and the following week the first payment arrived in my account. I did not have to speak to anyone or send in anything. It could not have been easier.

 

[S class]

My experience of dealing with DSP is that they operate strictly to the rules.
If you meet the rules you qualify, if you don't you will not qualify.

However as you state the rules are difficult to understand and I have come across DSP staff who have been mistaken in their interpretation.
They were not deliberately trying to avoid awarding a benefit. When I explained their error they were happy to be corrected.

It certainly pays to understand the rules. I would have lost out being awarded a benefit, if I had taken the opinion of DSP staff as always correct.


There is a new layer of complication added for over 66 year olds.

They can continue to claim Jobseekers Benefit, but are no longer eligible to be awarded credits.
They could be still liable to pay prsi up to age 70.
They are not allowed to pay voluntary prsi.

 

[S class]

Admittedly, I am a very straight forward case having worked many years up until the week before my recent 65th birthday.

I have a verified MyGoveID account so I could apply on line, it took about 2 minutes. Two days later I was approved and the following week the first payment arrived in my account. I did not have to speak to anyone or send in anything. It could not have been easier.

The online application for Jobseekers Benefit and BP65 is excellent and the response time is a few days.
They are currently setting up an online application for the State Pension.

 

[redstar]

Who really comes up with these qualifying rules. Probably people who will never need to avail of those same benefits

 

[redstar]

Frankly it's a disgrace that the rules around the Over 65 Benefit payment, which is barely 3 years in existence, have been allowed to become so convoluted. Little wonder that there is confusion when there are differences in the requirements on this page and this page, both from the DSP section of gov.ie. And the requirements set out on Citizens Information are different again. And my experience of requesting clarification regarding my entitlement was the same as yours. Helpful staff that were out of their depth. I feel really sorry for those who are less confident and less able to stick up for themselves. Had I not been pretty self assured I would have been denied this payment, to which I was fully entitled. As a department, the DSP in my experience have a very poor and misguided attitude, seeing their role as being to deny applicants payments for any possible reason rather than working proactively to assist people in accessing their entitlements. Their communications skills are also woeful.

This is also anti-customer (from DSPs BP65 Guidelines)...
"The onus is on the customer to prove entitlement to BP65 and to produce any evidence reasonably required."

So, the applicant has to interpret the guidelines correctly, which is unfair to many who may not even have access to the information.