State pension ( non contributory)

pants20

Hi all,

I have a general question... Scenario is civil servant retired over ten years and has his state contributory pension and his state pension..... His wife on the other hand was a home maker and raised 3 tax paying off Spring. Is she entitled to apply for the state pension in her own right?

infogiver

pants20 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a general question... Scenario is civil servant retired over ten years and has his state contributory pension and his state pension..... His wife on the other hand was a home maker and raised 3 tax paying off Spring. Is she entitled to apply for the state pension in her own right?

Everyone is entitled to apply.
She should apply for the non con as she has made insufficient PRSI contributions.
The husbands civil service pension will be means tested as well as any savings property shares stocks etc in her name or joint names.
The fact that her children pay tax has no relevance

Geuze

You may qualify for the State Pension (Non-Contributory) if:

You are aged 66 or over
You pass a means test
You meet the habitual residence condition

The means test

Your means are assessed under the following headings:

Cash income (including income from work)
Value of capital (for example, savings, investments, cash on hand and property but not your own home)
Income from property personally used

Cash income

Any cash income you have is assessed in the means test. This includes income from a social security pension from another country. However, certain items of cash income are not taken into account in the means test. For example, earnings of up to €200 per week from employment (but not self-employment) are not taken into account (or are disregarded). This disregard applies to both you and your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant. Any income from work above €200 is assessed as means.

If you own or lease land your net income from farming or leasing is fully assessed with no disregards. The net income is worked out by deducting expenses incurred from the gross income. If you own land that is not productively used or leased this is assessed on its capital value.

Payments you get under the Farm Retirement Scheme and income from property that has already been assessed on its capital value are also not taken into account.

More information is available in our document about cash income not taken into account in the means test.

Capital and property not personally used

Savings, investments, cash on hand and any property you own (but not your own home) is assessed as capital. All your capital from different sources is added together and a special formula is then used to find your weekly means from capital.

The property and investments that may be assessed under this heading include savings in a bank account (or anywhere else), a house that you have let and stocks and shares. You may or may not be getting an income from the property or investment. Income from property already assessed on its capital value is not assessed in the means test - see 'Cash income' above.

If you or your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant saves a portion of your State Pension (Non-Contributory) each week, these savings as well as savings from most other sources will be taken into account as part of your means.

More information is available in our document on how capital and property is assessed as means.

Different rules for the assessment of capital are used in the means tests for Disability Allowance (DA) and State Pension (Non-Contributory), this means, people moving from DA to State Pension (Non-Contributory) at age 66 could find that their pension is lower than their DA. The Social Welfare and Pension Act 2008 provides that, if you are moving from Disability Allowance (DA) to State Pension (Non-Contributory) at age 66 you will not get a lower rate pension because of a less favourable assessment of capital.

Income from property personally used (your home)

The value of the house you live in is not taken into account in the means test. However, any income you are getting from it is taken into account. For example, if you rented a room in your house, that income is assessed. There is an exception to this, if not renting the room means that you would be living alone then your income from rent is not taken into account.

mp22

Just a note to a non con pension,max personal rate is€222 for over 66,a person who is over 66 and is a dependent adult on a contributory pension gets € 209,with no means test.

jacob2

would the 222 euro included the fuel allowance or +fuel allowance