How much Irish and UK State Pension can I get?

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cwc456

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I will be 66 next year and by then I will have over 18 years PRSI contributions. I also paid enough National Insurance contributions to get close to a full UK state pension.

As I understand it, I could get a full Irish contributory state pension as I would have more than 48 weeks average PRSI contributions over the 18 years.
However, can I get a full Irish State pension and also the full amount of UK state pension that the National Insurance contributions would entitle me to?

Where should I apply for the pensions? To the DSP in Sligo only or to both countries separately?
 
The average of 48 contributions pa over your 18 years only works if the length of your PRSI record is 18 years ie that you first started contributions 18 years ago. If however your 18 year history was in two tranches - say 5 years initially followed by your UK service and then another 13 years PRSI - then your average will be much less than 48.
 
Conan said:
The average of 48 contributions pa over your 18 years only works if the length of your PRSI record is 18 years ie that you first started contributions 18 years ago. If however your 18 year history was in two tranches - say 5 years initially followed by your UK service and then another 13 years PRSI - then your average will be much less than 48.
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My PRSI contributions started in 2004 and I will have 18+ unbroken years.
 
cwc456 said:
I also paid enough National Insurance contributions to get close to a full UK state pension.
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You may still be able to pay voluntary Class 2 UK national insurance contributions to get you up to the 35 years needed for a full UK state pension as well. Look up form NI38 online, but start the process soon. These contributions are extremely cheap compared to the benefits.

As @Conan said you will be better off claiming both pensions separately. The Irish system is extremely (I would say unfairly) generous to immigrants to Ireland well into their working life, but good for you!

Remember tax is due on your total income in whichever jurisdiction you are resident in. Some pensioners have got a nasty surprise after not realising this.
 
@Conan
Do you know how they calculate the average? I paid PRSI for around 18 years , but started in 1990, and finished around 2011. There's two or three years in there I was out of the country.

So is it the total number of contributions , divided by the number of years between 1990 and when I reach 66?
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
You may still be able to pay voluntary Class 2 UK national insurance contributions to get you up to the 35 years needed for a full UK state pension as well. Look up form NI38 online, but start the process soon. These contributions are extremely cheap compared to the benefits.

As @Conan said you will be better off claiming both pensions separately. The Irish system is extremely (I would say unfairly) generous to immigrants to Ireland well into their working life, but good for you!

Remember tax is due on your total income in whichever jurisdiction you are resident in. Some pensioners have got a nasty surprise after not realising this.
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Good point about topping up the NI contributions. I'm prepared to be taxed on all income wherever it comes from :-(
 
Lisgoold said:
So is it the total number of contributions , divided by the number of years between 1990 and when I reach 66?
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It's the total contributions approach, or the yearly average approach, whichever is more favorable to you. See here.

If you were a stay-at-home-parent for a child under 12 you should be credited contributions also. Which increaseseligibility


Lisgoold said:
There's two or three years in there I was out of the country.
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Did you work in an EU member state (inc UK)? If so those contributions can be added to your Irish contributions to increase eligibility.
 
@NoRegretsCoyote

Thanks for the link. Though I'm a bit concerned about those conditions which must be met to qualify.
I meet them all, but not the last one.

Screenshot_20220606-100610.png
 
I think that refers to a different scheme. If you are happy to share you'll get better advice:

Year of birth:
Year of first PRSI contributions:
Total PRSI contributions to date:
Time working abroad and where:
Time (if any) spent caring for children full time:
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
I think that refers to a different scheme. If you are happy to share you'll get better advice:

Year of birth:
Year of first PRSI contributions:
Total PRSI contributions to date:
Time working abroad and where:
Time (if any) spent caring for children full time:
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Born 1959, reach 66 in 2025.

First year of PRSI was 1990.

Total contributions 887.

Worked in UK from 1976 to 1990, plus all of 2008 and 2009, and from 2011 to present.
 
Lisgoold said:
Worked in UK from 1976 to 1990, plus all of 2008 and 2009, and from 2011 to present.
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You are on track to close to a full UK pension on its own. It may be possible to "fill in the gaps" for the UK with voluntary class 2 NI contributions. Look up form NI38 and send it off to HMRC. You may get a full UK pension which requires 35 years of paid and/or voluntary contributions by 67.

For Ireland, your 887 PRSI contributions over the 35 years before retirement is an average of 25 a year, which should get you €215.70 a week, see here.

State Pension (Contributory) rates in 2022 for people who qualified on or after 1 September 2012
Yearly average PRSI contributionsPersonal rate per weekIncrease for a qualified adult* (under 66)Increase for a qualified adult* (over 66)
48 or over€253.30€168.70€227
40-47€248.30€160.60€215.70
30-39€227.70€152.80€204.50
20-29€215.70€142.90€192.50
15-19€165.10€110€147.40
10-14€101.20€67€91.30


You are doing quite well. A full working life should get you a bit more than a pension and a half.
 
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NoRegretsCoyote said:
You may still be able to pay voluntary Class 2 UK national insurance contributions to get you up to the 35 years needed for a full UK state pension as well. Look up form NI38 online, but start the process soon. These contributions are extremely cheap compared to the benefits.

As @Conan said you will be better off claiming both pensions separately. The Irish system is extremely (I would say unfairly) generous to immigrants to Ireland well into their working life, but good for you!

Remember tax is due on your total income in whichever jurisdiction you are resident in. Some pensioners have got a nasty surprise after not realising this.
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Thanks again for the tip about Class 2 NI Contributions. I did some more research and was surprised to find out how inexpensive they are. I will send in the form at the end of NI38.

I'm confused about the process for claiming the state pensions though. According to Irish Websites and one UK GOV site you should submit just one claim, in the country where you last worked. However when I spoke to International Pensions and Future pensions in the UK, they said submit separate claims for each state pension. If I did submit separate claims would I just ignore the sections in each form about employment in other countries?
 
I submitted one claim to Sligo as I am now living in Ireland and they submitted claims to the UK and France where I had worked previously.

it all worked very smoothly although it took a certain length of time. I had checked that all three countries had up to date national insurance records prior to submitting my claim.
 
jpd said:
I submitted one claim to Sligo as I am now living in Ireland and they submitted claims to the UK and France where I had worked previously.

it all worked very smoothly although it took a certain length of time. I had checked that all three countries had up to date national insurance records prior to submitting my claim.
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Thanks! - it certainly makes life easier if you can make just one application. So you got your full expected entitlements from each country without hitch? Did the UK and French people contact you at all, or does it all get paid into your Irish account automatically?
 
cwc456 said:
However when I spoke to International Pensions and Future pensions in the UK, they said submit separate claims for each state pension.
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I would do each separately, not least because date of first payment will be different.

In @jpd 's case he was probably aggregating contributions to help eligibility for one single pension in Ireland. But you'll be claiming both.
 
The different countries combine your contributions so as to maximise your pension

I had no contact from the UK and the French contacted me to get me to sign a few documents

In my case, contributions from the other countries were discounted as they would not have increased my pension entitlement in any of the countries

All the pensions are paid into my Irish bank account
 
jpd said:
The different countries combine your contributions so as to maximise your pension

I had no contact from the UK and the French contacted me to get me to sign a few documents

In my case, contributions from the other countries were discounted as they would not have increased my pension entitlement in any of the countries

All the pensions are paid into my Irish bank account
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Does this happen as one single payment per month? Or three separate ones?
 
Three separate payments from three separate pension authorities - in fact three separate payments from France, so 5 in all

Why would you expect them to be one payment - each country pays on a different payment schedule: Ireland - weekly, UK - every 4 weeks, France - once a month
 
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