Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 October 2024
306. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Social Protection the advices given to family carers when they are awarded the carer’s benefit or carer’s allowance in relation to the impact on their State pension (contributory) due to the fact that care-related credited contributions are not considered as qualifying contributions. [38784/24]
View answerCredited contributions, normally known as credits, are awarded to recipients of carer’s benefit and of carer’s allowance where they have an underlying entitlement to credits. Recipients of these payments qualify for credits where they have at least one paid contribution in the previous two years or have had credited contributions in that period. Credits are also awarded to workers who take unpaid carer’s leave from work.
Credits protect social insurance entitlements by bridging gaps in an employee’s social insurance record, where they are not in a position to pay PRSI, such as during periods spent caring. In combination with paid PRSI contributions, credits assist employees in qualifying for short-term schemes and enhance the level of benefit for long-term schemes.
When a carer’s allowance or carer's benefit claim ends, and the award of credits is appropriate, a notice of award of credits is issued internally in my Department and the person's insurance record is updated.
This Government acknowledges the important role that carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, once a person has met the minimum requirement of 520 paid contributions, the current State Pension (Contributory) system provides measures including PRSI credits, Homemaking Disregards and HomeCaring Periods to recognise caring periods of up to 20 years outside of paid employment in the calculation of a payment rate.Despite these measures, some long-term carers of incapacitated dependents may still face barriers in accessing the State Pension (Contributory). They may, for example, have difficulty establishing the minimum number of 520 paid contributions.I was very pleased that legislation to give effect to a number of important State Pension reforms was enacted last December. A key measure introduced under this legislation is enhanced State Pension provision for people who have been caring for incapacitated dependents for over 20 years.Since January 2024, long-term carers contributions (LTCCs) can be awarded to a person who has cared for an incapacitated person for a period of 20 years (1040 weeks) or more and these contributions can be used towards the calculation of their State Pension (Contributory) entitlement. This is done by attributing the equivalent of a paid contribution to long-term carers of incapacitated dependents to cover gaps in their contribution record. These long-term carers contributions will be treated the same as paid contributions for State Pension (Contributory) entitlement only and can, where there are gaps in paid contributions, be used to satisfy the minimum 520 qualifying contributions condition.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
