How did they calculate this Contributory Old Age Pension
- Thread starter aamstudent
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@Norrie500
Homemakers scheme disregards years for the yearly average calculation.
The weekly credits for the 20 months are not counted for YA calculation.
So in the YA calculation the number of years will be reduced.
Only full years are counted. You might get a reduction of 1 year.
If the 20 months were 10 months from one year and 10 from another year you might get no reduction in years.
I am not certain of this.
This might or might not bring you into a higher average band.
The home carers scheme adds credits for the total contributions scheme.
The number of weekly credits during the 20 month period will be added in the total contributions calculation. This will definitely increase your TCA pension amount.
Homemakers scheme disregards years for the yearly average calculation.
The weekly credits for the 20 months are not counted for YA calculation.
So in the YA calculation the number of years will be reduced.
Only full years are counted. You might get a reduction of 1 year.
If the 20 months were 10 months from one year and 10 from another year you might get no reduction in years.
I am not certain of this.
This might or might not bring you into a higher average band.
The home carers scheme adds credits for the total contributions scheme.
The number of weekly credits during the 20 month period will be added in the total contributions calculation. This will definitely increase your TCA pension amount.
@Norrie500
If you are marginally short of getting into a higher averaging band at age 66, you could defer until the beginning of the year after your 66th birthday or beyond. You could use voluntary contributions, class S from an ARF or class A from PAYE employment to get more contributions.
Doing this would increase the number of years used in the YA calculation, so your need to be careful calculating what YA band you will achieve.
If you are marginally short of getting into a higher averaging band at age 66, you could defer until the beginning of the year after your 66th birthday or beyond. You could use voluntary contributions, class S from an ARF or class A from PAYE employment to get more contributions.
Doing this would increase the number of years used in the YA calculation, so your need to be careful calculating what YA band you will achieve.
In relation to HomeCarers, would someone who took a career break in the CS to look after children be eligible to have that counted towards claiming COAP ? My guess is not, as they have not left their job, but were able to return to it after the career break.
Initial response - not just related to your question:- Why guess? Why not simply apply to the Department and see what comes back?
Response to your question: why wouldn't such a person be eligible? Bear in mind that:
Why wouldn't that apply to a public servant?
Rules on working and the HomeCaring Periods Scheme
"You cannot be employed for more than 18.5 hours a week.""If you spent time out of work caring for someone, the DSP can add a 'Home Caring Period' to your social insurance record"
So a person could actually remain part time in their employment and still qualify. The class D employee could work part time and be a carer. If they worked part time and were paying class D they probably don't get reckonable credits.
But during a carers period when they don't pay a class D contribution they might qualify. They are out of the Prsi system during this period.
On this basis the class D employee should qualify for any periods where they are not paying for a class D contribution.
Would a class D employee who took up PAYE employment during a career break be entitled to class A Prsi ?
They don't qualify on the basis of their Class D service but they may still qualify if they additionally have sufficient full rate qualifying contributions. So eligibility for Homecaring during the career break could be a consideration.
I’m maybe clutching at straws , but I left work in Dec ‘22 to care for elderly dependent parent. I claimed carer’s benefit from Dec ‘22 until Aug ‘24, at which point my parent passed away.
I worked as PS until I received Carers Benifit. It clearly states in gov.ie that you earn the same credits as you did when you qualified for Carers Benifit. I had been paying class D as PS, but class M is on my record for 23 and 24.
I started private work this past January and am getting one A credit per week . I am hoping that this will change last years credits to A, also. I know that the carer’s benefit credits are appearing as class M, but I still don’t understand how they “list” D credits for that period of time , considering that the info on gov.ie clearly states that you get the credits that you got in your previous job.
If they give me change of status( which I presumably won’t know until next year) , does that mean that I can use them in yearly average calculation?
Just hoping and wondering if anybody has an opinion on this .
I worked as PS until I received Carers Benifit. It clearly states in gov.ie that you earn the same credits as you did when you qualified for Carers Benifit. I had been paying class D as PS, but class M is on my record for 23 and 24.
I started private work this past January and am getting one A credit per week . I am hoping that this will change last years credits to A, also. I know that the carer’s benefit credits are appearing as class M, but I still don’t understand how they “list” D credits for that period of time , considering that the info on gov.ie clearly states that you get the credits that you got in your previous job.
If they give me change of status( which I presumably won’t know until next year) , does that mean that I can use them in yearly average calculation?
Just hoping and wondering if anybody has an opinion on this .
I will reach 520 contributions in August ‘25. I will continue to work ( hopefully!) until my 66 th birthday. Basically then there’s a chance that my class M ( as it’s from my classD PS salary )may ( through change of status ) yield credits that I can use in the averaging calculation?
Again , really appreciating your help and patience!!!!!!
Again , really appreciating your help and patience!!!!!!
@Norrie500
I my case I left class D employment on 31/12/2013.
I didn't get class A employment until half way through 2014.
I worked for 2 weeks and then signed on for Jobseekers credits.
I was expecting to get change of status just for 2013.
However when I got my COAP calculation I also got change of status credits to fill in the gap for the first 6 months of 2014.
I had non reckonable class K from investments for all of 2014.
So either the class K changed status or the gap in reckonable contributions was filled in.
You are in with a chance to get change of status credits.
You won't know for sure until you hit age 66.
I my case I left class D employment on 31/12/2013.
I didn't get class A employment until half way through 2014.
I worked for 2 weeks and then signed on for Jobseekers credits.
I was expecting to get change of status just for 2013.
However when I got my COAP calculation I also got change of status credits to fill in the gap for the first 6 months of 2014.
I had non reckonable class K from investments for all of 2014.
So either the class K changed status or the gap in reckonable contributions was filled in.
You are in with a chance to get change of status credits.
You won't know for sure until you hit age 66.
aamstudent
Registered User
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I am going to go back to the original topic of this thread.
Following the advices given here, I came to the conclusion that they had calculated the pension using only Method 2 (90% YA and 10% TCA). There was a small difference of a few cents but that seems to be explained by DSP rounding to the nearest 10 cents. Method 1 uses TCA only. Where Method 1 is higher, which in this case gave a fractionally higher result, then they should have used Method 1.
We did the three recommended actions – (i) ask for calculations using FoI, (ii) ask for a review and (iii) appeal.
They never provided the calcualations. Instead they gave copies of all letters that they had sent – which we had anyway.
In recent days, we received the results of the review. They have increased the pension by about half of what I expected. Again they didn’t provide the calculations. They provided another copy of the social insurance record. In this new record, for two years the number of contributions has decreased. In one year, it decreased by 1. But in 2000/01, it decreased by 13.
At first, I thought that they were right but searching suggests that for that year, the number of contributions is deemed to be increased by an additional 14. Does anyone know if that is correct. Should 2000/01 have 52 or 39 contributions? In my workings, I had forgotten about the “short year” but in fact it seems they gave 14 extra stamps for that year.
Following the advices given here, I came to the conclusion that they had calculated the pension using only Method 2 (90% YA and 10% TCA). There was a small difference of a few cents but that seems to be explained by DSP rounding to the nearest 10 cents. Method 1 uses TCA only. Where Method 1 is higher, which in this case gave a fractionally higher result, then they should have used Method 1.
We did the three recommended actions – (i) ask for calculations using FoI, (ii) ask for a review and (iii) appeal.
They never provided the calcualations. Instead they gave copies of all letters that they had sent – which we had anyway.
In recent days, we received the results of the review. They have increased the pension by about half of what I expected. Again they didn’t provide the calculations. They provided another copy of the social insurance record. In this new record, for two years the number of contributions has decreased. In one year, it decreased by 1. But in 2000/01, it decreased by 13.
At first, I thought that they were right but searching suggests that for that year, the number of contributions is deemed to be increased by an additional 14. Does anyone know if that is correct. Should 2000/01 have 52 or 39 contributions? In my workings, I had forgotten about the “short year” but in fact it seems they gave 14 extra stamps for that year.
@aamstudent
My wife's Prsi record shows 38 paid class A and 14 credits for 2001.
52 contributions are counted as Reckonable for the COAP for the year.
2000/01 is shown as a normal Prsi year with 52 paid class A.
"2001
14 special ‘A’ credits were awarded for the 2001 short tax year. These may be used for the calculation of all benefits, but cannot be used to satisfy the ‘520 full rate paid contribution’ condition."
My wife's Prsi record shows 38 paid class A and 14 credits for 2001.
52 contributions are counted as Reckonable for the COAP for the year.
2000/01 is shown as a normal Prsi year with 52 paid class A.
"2001
14 special ‘A’ credits were awarded for the 2001 short tax year. These may be used for the calculation of all benefits, but cannot be used to satisfy the ‘520 full rate paid contribution’ condition."
Last edited:
aamstudent
Registered User
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@aamstudent
The quote above is taken from a digital Prsi record statement.
This is a screenshot of the page.
The quote above is taken from a digital Prsi record statement.
This is a screenshot of the page.
