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Old Age pension and low income

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  • 13-10-2020 1:11pm
    #1
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi, wondering if anybody could advise me.

    My father has been on an invalidity pension for the past two years, he got a letter this week to say now that he is 66 he has been switched onto old age pension, he gets an extra €25 per week for my mother who is 63. My mam works part time as a carer, now her hours can range from 4 hours per week to 15 hours per week, she is on minimum wage. My question is this, on the invalidity pension, he was allowed a lot more for my mam as a dependant, on the old age pension they are giving him a flat €25 per week, so they have seen an income drop per week of approximately 40-60 euro which is quite a lot for them as they still have a small mortgage and a lot of medical bills. Is there any other entitlements that could qualify for as really it is quite a struggle for them to survive on this, if something goes wrong with the car etc or a big bill comes in then they are in trouble. Thanks in advance


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    #2
    mystic
    Registered Users Posts: 248 ✭✭mystic


    Unregistered wrote: »
    Hi, wondering if anybody could advise me.

    My father has been on an invalidity pension for the past two years, he got a letter this week to say now that he is 66 he has been switched onto old age pension, he gets an extra €25 per week for my mother who is 63. My mam works part time as a carer, now her hours can range from 4 hours per week to 15 hours per week, she is on minimum wage. My question is this, on the invalidity pension, he was allowed a lot more for my mam as a dependant, on the old age pension they are giving him a flat €25 per week, so they have seen an income drop per week of approximately 40-60 euro which is quite a lot for them as they still have a small mortgage and a lot of medical bills. Is there any other entitlements that could qualify for as really it is quite a struggle for them to survive on this, if something goes wrong with the car etc or a big bill comes in then they are in trouble. Thanks in advance

    That definitely doesn't sound right. Did your father get a letter outlining the Personal rate and the Increase for a Qualified Adult?

    Usually a person on Invalidity Pension transfers to the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) when they reach 66.

    The Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) is reduced if the spouse/partner works and earns over €100pw. This is known as a tapered IQA.

    Have a look at the Appendix in the Rates of Payment 2020.
    https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/6aec4d-current-rates-of-payment-for-social-welfare-payments-sw19/
    It's not as daunting as it looks!

    How much was your father receiving for your mother when he was on IP?

    How much is he receiving for your mother on SPC?

    He should contact the SPC section by email to find out how they assessed your mother's income.
    state.con@welfare.ie

    Hope this helps.


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    #3
    StackSteevens
    Closed Accounts Posts: 873 ✭✭✭StackSteevens


    Expanding on mystic's helpful post, I would suggest that your mother either:

    * comes to an arrangement with her employer that she never earns over €100 a week (i.e. works a maximum of 9½ hours every week)
    or,
    * if she wants to and can afford to, stops work completely.

    Either option would make her eligible for the full IQA.

    If your father's weekly IQA is only €25 a week, this suggests to me that your mum's weekly earnings may have, for some reason, been asssessed at between €290 and €300 a week.


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