Questions related to occupational pensions for former civil and public servants are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
Primary weekly social welfare payments are intended to enable recipients to meet their basic day-to-day income needs. In addition to these primary payments, my Department also provides a range of other payments on a weekly, monthly, or less frequent basis. These payments are considered secondary in nature with each of them having their own individual qualifying criteria.
The Living Alone Increase (LAI) is one of those secondary payments. It is not a scheme or a stand-alone payment, but it is a supplement to a primary social protection payment of €22 per week made to people aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone.
For those aged 66 or over, payments eligible for the LAI include State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Non-contributory), Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension, Bereaved Partner's Pension under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme, Incapacity Supplement under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme and Deserted Wife's Benefit. LAI is also paid to people aged under 66 who live alone and are in receipt of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Incapacity Supplement or Blind Pension.
Prior to 6 April 1995, civil and public servants did not have access to the full range of social insurance benefits as their terms of employment protected them against the main contingencies of illness and old age, and the risk of unemployment was not considered a factor due to the nature of their employment.
Consequently, such contributors pay less in social insurance contributions in return for fewer social insurance benefits. For example, class B contributors currently pay a contribution at the rate of 1.1% on their weekly earnings up to €1,443 and 4.2% on weekly earnings over that amount and their employers pay a contribution of 2.21% on all employee earnings. Class B contributors are currently entitled to Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension, Guardian's Payment (Contributory), (limited) Occupational Injuries Benefits, Parent's Benefit and Carer's Benefit. Class B contributions do not provide entitlement to the State Pension (Contributory), except in certain circumstances where, in conjunction with class A contributions, they can be used when calculating entitlement to a mixed-insurance pro-rata pension.
The fact that this cohort of State employees who are widowed can qualify for a LAI reflects that class B, C and D contributions provide an entitlement to a Bereaved Partner's (Contributory) Pension, where the conditions of the scheme are met. Therefore, such persons can receive the LAI in addition to this primary payment.
Civil and public servants recruited from 6 April 1995, and those employed in the private sector, pay a class A social insurance contribution of 4.2% on their weekly earnings. Their employers pay a contribution of 9.0% where employees’ weekly earnings are €552 or less and 11.25% where their employees’ weekly earnings exceed €552. Class A contributors have access to the full range of social insurance benefits, including State Pension (Contributory). However, the value of the State Pension (Contributory) is integrated with their public service pension (in the case of those recruited after 6 April 1995 and before 1 January 2013), unlike those pre-April 1995 civil and public servants who receive their full pension entitlement under their public service pension.
The State Pension (Non-contributory) is available to those who satisfy the means-test and who are ordinarily resident in the state, regardless of their social insurance contribution history. The State Pension (Non-contributory) is a qualifying payment for the LAI, regardless of the rate of payment.
There are no circumstances where the LAI can be paid to people who are not in receipt of a primary qualifying payment from my Department or who do not meet the living alone eligibility criteria. Any change to the qualifying criteria for this payment would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.
