Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As provided for in budget 2012, from September 2012, new rate bands for State pensions were introduced. These additional payment rate bands more accurately reflect the social insurance history of a person and ensure those who contribute more during a working life benefit more in retirement than those with fewer contributions. People who have insufficient contributions to qualify for a full contributory State pension may qualify for a means-tested non-contributory State pension. In addition, some affected persons may be entitled to a qualified adult increase on their spouse’s or partner’s pension payment. The increase is paid directly to the qualified adult.

The homemaker’s scheme was introduced in 1994 to make qualification for contributory State pension easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age or incapacitated people to be disregarded when a person’s social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes.

The success of all these measures in ensuring equality of outcomes for men and women is evidenced by the poverty statistics, which show that women over the age of 65 are less likely to be in poverty than men of the same age. The most recently published actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund confirms that the fund provides better value to female contributors than to male contributors. It also examined the changes in the contribution rules and the associated rates of payment to be introduced in September 2012. It found that those with lower earnings and those with shorter contribution histories will continue to obtain the best value from their contributions.

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The introduction of homemaker credits would give increased recognition to women carers’ work to ensure child rearing and caring duties are rewarded. However, their introduction would raise a number of issues, most notably cost. Such costs would be expected to increase very significantly over time. I will keep this under continual review as the economy recovers. A total contributions approach to pension qualification will replace the current average contributions test for the contributory State pension in 2020, although that date is subject to change. Issues such as equality of outcomes for women and men, and homemaker's credits, will be considered carefully in the context of that reform.

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