However, because i worked in the UK for 4ish years i have 3 full years with no Irish contributions and 2 partial years (first and last years working in UK). This is why i was wondering if i could use these towards my Irish pension as well as my UK pension, as it would mean i could retire four years earlier without affecting my maximum rate Irish pension. However, i suspect i can only use these contributions for either UK or Ireland and not both
The rules regarding using contributions paid in other EU states Is governed by EU regulations so if the UK leaves the EU who knows what will happen. At the moment you can get two pensions, if you have enough contributions you can get a full Irish contributory pension and a lesser UK one depending on your contributions.
The current “average contribution” calculation is due to change shortly. Originality the change was due to happen in 2020, but I now expect this to be 2022. The proposed new formula is expected to be 1/40th of the State Pension for each year of contribution (max 2080 contributions). Service in the UK can be added to your Irish record, or alternatively you might claim two smaller pensions (assuming you satisfy the minimum requirements in the UK).
It's rather more complicated than that.
Under current EU rules, the Irish Social Security will
1. calculate your Irish pension entitlement based only on your irish contributions - say this is € X per week
2. calculate your Irish pension entitlement based on all your contributions in the EU - so including your UK contributions - say this comes to € Y per week. They will then calculate how much of this amount is to be paid by Ireland based on the contributions paid in Ireland compared to the total contributions paid in the EU - this will be some fraction of € Y per week
You will be entitled to the larger of the two amounts - so € X based only on your Irish contributions or some fraction of € Y
The rules regarding using contributions paid in other EU states Is governed by EU regulations so if the UK leaves the EU who knows what will happen. At the moment you can get two pensions, if you have enough contributions you can get a full Irish contributory pension and a lesser UK one depending on your contributions.
No I don't believe you can use the same contribution twice. I think the correct term which I've read in some legislation preventing this is 'overlapping'.
And you can't transfer contributions from one state to another. So Ireland will pay your Irish pro-rata amount, and the UK will pay your UK pro-rata amount.
You're 54 this year, worked straight out of school (from age 16?) and minus 5 years due to the UK. So you probably have 33 full Irish years? And the new pension reform is rumored to be pro-ratad up to 40 years. So another 7 years may be enough for your entitlement to the full Irish.
I wonder myself how the partial years will work in the new system. There may be a minimum earnings requirement to acquire the full year (I think in the UK it's around £6k-7k), so if you earned over a certain amount, or paid over a certain amount of PRSI in that year, will you be credited that year; and will the government let people make a contribution to top-up a partial year to obtain that full year if they didn't pay enough PRSI that year; who knows at this time.
I don't envisage Brexit having any affect on this really. Ireland already has social security bi-lateral agreements with a few non-EU countries (Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea).
On the other side, Brexit may even be good for Irish citizens residing in the UK; going forward they may be allowed to make voluntary contribution to top up their future Irish pension entitlement.
There is no centralised EU calculation. Each country where you have you have contributions will do it's own calculation based on your contributions in that country and other EU states. The EU has defined the overall process but each country applies its own rules - are contributions based on weeks, amounts paid or some combination of the two.Hi Jpd, this has confused me. Are you saying that you just get one pension regardless of whether you paid contributions in both Ireland and UK? and that the Irish Pension Section then decide, based on what contributions you paid in either country, who (Ireland or UK) pays what portion of your one pension? This is different to what i have heard from many and i have also seen media articles about buying back UK contributions to entitle you to a UK pension as well as an Irish pension.
There is no centralised EU calculation. Each country where you have you have contributions will do it's own calculation based on your contributions in that country and other EU states. The EU has defined the overall process but each country applies its own rules - are contributions based on weeks, amounts paid or some combination of the two.
You can buy back years in the UK to increase your UK pension - this may or may not affect your entitlement to an Irish pension as well. As always, the devil is in the detail and believe me, there is plenty of detail. The UK calculations are mind-boggling especial if you have contributions back in the 70s and 80s when they had contracted out and contracted in schemes
The current system is a “totals and average” basis, ie you must have an average of 48 contributions per annum over your time in the PRSI system (from when you first entered the workforce until the Dec before your 66th birthday). Originally it was proposed to change this calculation method in 2020 to a “total contribution approach (TCA)”. This would require 2080 contributions (equivalent to 40 years) to get the max pension, so in effect a 1/40th for each year of contribution. However it now appears that this will not be introduced until 2022 at the earliest.Hi Conan, is what you are referring to the "Aggregated Contribution Method" I mentioned above or is this something different? Seems the same to me but i might be missing something. If it is the same, it seems from Welfare.ie that it is already in place.
No, you get the pension you are entitled to in each country - they do not adjust your pension because you have a pension in another EU country. Depending on the rules of each country, you could end up getting full pensions from two or more
As for Brexit, we all know states never renege on agreements
I made about 50 UK NI contributions when I worked there in my 20s for a year. Highly unlikely I'll ever work in the UK again.
This will get me no pension entitlements at all in the UK as I won't have 10 years contributions which is the minimum.
Can I 'transfer' these NI contributions to my PRSI record to help me with Irish state pension eligibility in due course?
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