Social security in the Republic of Ireland

Last updated

In Ireland, there are two categories of social security, contributory (social insurance), and non-contributory (social assistance), as well as three main types of payments:

Contents

All benefits are administered by the Department of Social Protection, [3] which is divided into two parts, the Aireacht which is responsible for "policy formulation, legislations and general administration" and Social Welfare Services which is responsible for the "day-to-day running and delivery of services" of the department. [4]

Social Assistance

In order to qualify for social assistance, the applicant must undergo a means test [sair 1] and a habitual residence test. [sair 2]

Social assistance programs include:

State Pension (Contributory) [5]

The state pension (contributory) falls under the social insurance category. To be eligible, you need to have

The payments for those who qualified on or before the 1st of September, 2012 are:

Average Number of Contributions per YearPay Per WeekIncrease for an adult dependent (under 66)Increase for an adult dependent (over 66)
10-14€99.20€65.70€89.50
15-19€161.80€107.80€144.50
20-29€211.40€140.10€188.70
30-39€223.20€149.80€200.50
40-47€243.40€157.40€211.40
48 and above€248.30€165.40€222.50

The payments for those who qualified after the 1st of September, 2012 are:

Average Number of Contributions per YearPay Per WeekIncrease for an adult dependent (under 66)Increase for an adult dependent (over 66)
10-14€124.20€82.80€111.20
15-19€186.20€124.10€166.90
20-47€243.40€165.40€222.50
48 and above€248.30€165.40€222.50

The pensioner also receives an additional €10 once they reach 80 years of age, and may be eligible for other benefits.

State Pension (Non-Contributory) [6]

The State Pension (Non-Contributory) falls under the social assistance category. It provides payments to those over 66 who did not make enough payments for State Pension (Contributory). To be eligible, a pensioner must:

Disability

People who have paid sufficient Pay Related Social Insurance into the national Social Insurance Fund may qualify for Illness Benefit for one or two years. They may then qualify for Invalidity Pension, which can continue until age 66.

Injury Benefit and Disablement Benefit may be payable to people disabled as a result of an accident at work or a prescribed disease contracted at work.

Disability Allowance is payable to disabled people over 16 and under 66 years of age. The disability must have continued, or be expected to continue, for at least 12 months. It must cause substantial restrictions in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable for a person of your age, experience and qualifications.

Supplementary Welfare Allowance

Supplementary Welfare Allowance is paid to people whose income is less than the rate judged sufficient for their family. This is subject to a means test.

Widows and widowers

May be eligible for Widow's/Widower's (Contributory) Pension (Pinsean Ranníocach Baintrí (Fir agus Mná)), the Bereavement Grant (Deontas Báis), the Widowed Parents Grant (Deontas Báis Bhaintrí/Bhaintrí Fir) and/or the Special Funeral Grant (Deontas Speiseálta Sochraide).

Payments for the Widow's/Widower's Pension are as follows:

AgePayment per weekPayment from January 2008
Under 66€191.30€203.30
66 - 79€209.30€223.30
Over 80€219.30€233.30

For each child dependant, €22.00 (€24.00 from January 2008) is added.

More information on the Widow's/Widower's Pension scheme can be found here.

The Bereavement Grant is a simple one-off payment of €850, given after a death to the deceased's family. More information can be found here and here.

The Widowed Parents Grant is a one-off payment of €6,000, given to widows/widowers with one or more child dependants living with them. However, there are other rules regarding the payment; more information can be found here.

The Special Funeral Grant is another one-off payment of €850, given to the deceased's family. It is only available if the person dies at work. More information can be found here.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare</span> Means-oriented social benefit

Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Insurance</span> Tax and social benefit system in the UK, introduced in 1911

National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their families.

Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by governmental bodies to unemployed people. Depending on the country and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.

A disability pension is a form of pension given to those people who are permanently or temporarily unable to work due to a disability.

Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is an unemployment benefit paid by the Government of the United Kingdom to people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the claimant is out of work.

Income Support is an income-related benefit in the United Kingdom for some people who are on a low income, but have a reason for not actively seeking work. Claimants of Income Support may be entitled to certain other benefits, for example, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Child Tax Credit and help with health costs. A person with capital over £16,000 cannot get Income Support, and savings over £6,000 affect how much Income Support can be received. Claimants must be between 16 and Pension Credit age, work fewer than 16 hours a week, and have a reason why they are not actively seeking work.

Social security, in Australia, refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens, permanent residents, and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink, a program of Services Australia. In Australia, most payments are means tested.

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom welfare payment for adults younger than the State Pension age who are having difficulty finding work because of their long-term medical condition or a disability. It is a basic income-replacement benefit paid in lieu of wages. It is currently being phased out and replaced with Universal Credit for claimants on low incomes, although the contribution-based element remains available.

According to the International Labour Organization, social security is a human right that aims at reducing and preventing poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cycle of individuals. Social security includes different kinds of benefits A social pension is a stream of payments from the state to an individual that starts when someone retires and continues to be paid until death. This type of pension represents the non-contributory part of the pension system, the other being the contributory pension, as per the most common form of composition of these systems in most developed countries.

In France, pensions fall into five major divisions;

Pensions in Spain consist of a mandatory state pension scheme, and voluntary company and individual pension provision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 is the primary legislation concerning the state retirement provision, accident insurance, statutory sick pay and maternity pay in the United Kingdom.

The Department of Social Services was an Australian government department that existed between April 1939 and December 1972.

Carer's Allowance is a non-contributory benefit in the United Kingdom payable to people who care for a disabled person for at least 35 hours a week. It was first established as Invalid Care Allowance in 1976, and married women were not eligible. This policy was held to be unlawful sexual discrimination by the European Court in 1986 in the case of Jackie Drake. See Carers rights movement In May 2020 around 1.1 million people in England were entitled to Carer’s Allowance, of which 780,000 people were being paid it, according to the National Audit Office.

Many employers in the UK provide a Christmas bonus to their staff. Amounts vary widely, and may be supplemented by gifts from customers, known as Christmas boxes, usually paid direct. Some employers provide an annual bonus at other times of the year. Bonuses may be nominal, based on performance, or a thirteenth salary type scheme.

Compared to other liberal democracies, Ireland's pension policies have average coverage, which includes 78 percent of the workforce as of 2014, and it offers different types of pensions for employees to choose from. The Irish pension system is designed as a pay-as-you-go program and is based on both public and private pension programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public pensions in Greece</span>

Public pensions in Greece are designed to provide incomes to Greek pensioners upon reaching retirement. For decades pensions in Greece were known to be among the most generous in the European Union, allowing many pensioners to retire earlier than pensioners in other European countries. This placed a heavy burden on Greece's public finances which made the Greek state increasingly vulnerable to external economic shocks, culminating in a recession due to the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent European debt crisis. This series of crises has forced the Greek government to implement economic reforms aimed at restructuring the pension system and eliminating inefficiencies within it. Measures in the Greek austerity packages imposed upon Greek citizens by the European Central Bank have achieved some success at reforming the pension system despite having stark ramifications for standards of living in Greece, which have seen a sharp decline since the beginning of the crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Security Scotland</span> Agency of the Scottish Government

Social Security Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government with responsibility for social security provision.

<i>Carson and Others v The United Kingdom</i> (2010) European Court of Human Rights case

Carson and Others v The United Kingdom [2010] ECHR 338 was heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in Strasbourg on 16 March 2010 on appeal from the European Court of Rights (ECHR), Fourth Section before Jean-Paul Costa (President), Christos Rozakis, Nicolas Bratza, Peer Lorenzen, Françoise Tulkens, Josep Casadevall, Karel Jungwiert, Nina Vajić, Dean Spielmann, Renate Jaeger, Danutė Jočienė, Ineta Ziemele, Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre, Päivi Hirvelä, Luis López Guerra, Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, Zdravka Kalaydjieva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 1993 United Kingdom budget</span>

The November 1993 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 30 November 1993. It was the second budget to be presented in 1993, and the first to be presented by Clarke following his appointment as Chancellor by Prime Minister John Major earlier that year. The November 1993 budget was also the first in the modern era to be held in the autumn, the government having decided to move the date of the budget so it could outline its tax and spending plans at the same time.

References

  1. ↑ "Operational Guidelines: Means Assessment". www.gov.ie. 2019-09-03. Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  2. ↑ "How much Universal Credit you get and how you're paid | nidirect". www.nidirect.gov.uk. 2020-06-05. Archived from the original on 2023-06-10. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  3. ↑ "Department of Social Protection". www.gov.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-07-09. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  4. ↑ "10.9.1.30 Social Security System in Ireland | Social Security Guide". guides.dss.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  5. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "State Pension (Contributory)". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  6. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "State Pension (Non-Contributory)". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2021-10-30.

Social Assistance

  1. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Means test". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  2. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "The habitual residence condition". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  3. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Back to Work Family Dividend". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  4. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Blind Pension". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  5. ↑ "Carer's Allowance". HSE.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-03-29. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  6. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Child Benefit". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-06-16. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  7. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Disability Allowance". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-06-06. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  8. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Domiciliary Care Allowance". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-10. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  9. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Guardian's and orphan's payments". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  10. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Jobseeker's Transitional payment". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  11. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "One-Parent Family Payment". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  12. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "State Pension (Non-Contributory)". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-07-12. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  13. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Supplementary Welfare Allowance". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-10. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  14. ↑ Citizensinformation.ie. "Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Non-Contributory) Pension". www.citizensinformation.ie. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.