Caring credits help boost State pension eligibility

A woman has questions about how caring for her siblings after her mother died will affect her State pension. She has paid PRSI contributions for almost 27 years and hopes to have a total of 40 years of contributions by retirement at age 57. She wants to know if her contributions will be calculated over her entire working life or just the years she worked. The Department of Social Protection acknowledges her five years of caring PRSI credits. She can use these credits alongside her paid contributions, giving her 32 years of coverage now. With eight more years of work, she will reach 40 years of contributions. There are different methods for calculating State pensions. The older method averaged contributions over the working life. Recently, a new approach allows full pensions if a person has 40 years of contributions, regardless of how many years those contributions span. Since she will have 40 years of contributions, she will qualify for a full State pension. She cannot start receiving her pension at 57. The official retirement age is 66. If she retires at 57, she will need other income until she can access her pension. It’s also essential to apply for the pension six months before she plans to start receiving it. The application can be submitted online or using a printed form.