Why this matters for women in particular
In 25 years of advising clients, I have sat across the table from a lot of women who assumed the State Pension would be the same for everyone. It is not. The full contributory State Pension is €299.30 a week in 2026, and Budget 2027 increases it to €309.30 a week from January 2027. What you get is a percentage of that figure, and the percentage depends on your PRSI record.
As I set out in my guide to the gender pension gap, women are more likely than men to take time out of paid work to raise children or care for a parent, or to work part-time for a number of years. This guide is the practical follow-on: how the State Pension is worked out, where caring years fit in, and what you can do now.
How the State Pension is worked out
Most people need at least 520 full-rate PRSI contributions, which is 10 years' worth, to get the State Pension (Contributory) at 66. If you have a mixture of full-rate and modified-rate PRSI contributions, as some former civil and public servants do, you may qualify for a reduced pension with 260 full-rate contributions, provided you meet the other conditions for a mixed-insurance pension. Social insurance you paid in another EU country, or in a country with a social security agreement with Ireland, may also count. You also need to have started paying PRSI at least 10 years before you claim, so before age 56 if you claim at 66.
Your rate is then calculated using the Total Contributions Approach. The Department of Social Protection adds up three things:
- the PRSI contributions you paid through work, plus any high-rate voluntary contributions and Long-Term Carers Contributions
- credited contributions, up to a maximum of 520 (10 years)
- HomeCaring Periods, up to a maximum of 1,040 (20 years)
Credited contributions and HomeCaring Periods together cannot come to more than 1,040. One contribution is roughly one week, so a full year of work is about 52 contributions.
If your total reaches 2,080 (40 years), you get the full rate. If it is lower, you get a proportion of the full rate. 1,040 contributions gives you 50% of the maximum, for example.
The older method, which looked at your average number of contributions per year, is being phased out between 2025 and 2034. Until then, the Department compares two calculations: one using the Total Contributions Approach alone, and one that blends the older method with the new one. In 2026 the blend is 80% older method and 20% Total Contributions Approach, and the older method's share falls each year. You get whichever calculation gives the higher rate. From 2034, the Total Contributions Approach alone will apply.
HomeCaring Periods: credit for years spent caring
The Department adds one HomeCaring Period to your record for each week you spent caring full-time, up to 1,040 weeks (20 years).
You may qualify for weeks when you were caring full-time for:
- a child under 12, including an adopted or fostered child
- a child aged 12 or over who needed an increased level of care
- an adult who needed an increased level of care
During those weeks you must have been over 16 and under pension age, living permanently in Ireland, and not working, studying or training for more than 18.5 hours a week. Getting Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance for the person you cared for counts as full-time care, and getting Child Benefit does not stop you qualifying.
A HomeCaring Period can only fill a week that is not already covered by credits or voluntary contributions. Only one person can get HomeCaring Periods for caring for the same person, so if you and a sibling shared the care of a parent, only one of you can claim for any given week.
Two rules are worth knowing. First, HomeCaring Periods can increase your pension rate, but they cannot by themselves meet the minimum qualifying contribution requirement. You must first qualify for the contributory State Pension through paid PRSI, qualifying Long-Term Carers Contributions or another applicable route. Second, you can only apply for them when you reach pension age and apply for your State Pension. You apply through the Pension Caring Supports form on MyWelfare.ie, and you do not need to send supporting documents with the form, although the Department may ask for things like birth certificates later.
The Homemaker's Scheme: mainly for people reaching pension age before 2034
The Homemaker's Scheme is older. It lets the Department disregard up to 20 homemaking years since 6 April 1994 when it works out your average number of contributions under the older method. As the older calculation method is phased out, the Homemaker's Scheme will play a smaller role in new pension calculations. From 2034, pensions will be calculated using the Total Contributions Approach alone. This will not remove benefits already included in pensions awarded under the previous rules.
If you are at home caring now and will reach pension age before 2034, you apply through the Pension Caring Supports form on MyWelfare.ie. Citizens Information says to apply before the end of the contribution year after the year you first became a homemaker, although a late claim may be accepted if you had a good reason for the delay.
Long-Term Carers Contributions: for 20 years or more of caring
If you have cared full-time for someone for at least 20 years (1,040 weeks), the Long-Term Carers Contributions scheme, introduced in January 2024, may help. Each week of full-time care counts as the same as a paid contribution on your PRSI record.
This matters most for people who have spent most of their adult life caring and never built up 10 years of work. If you qualify through 20 years of full-time care, you do not need those 10 years of employment contributions to get the contributory State Pension. The person you cared for must have needed continual supervision, and a doctor must certify the nature and extent of their disability.
If you reached 66 before 2024, the Department can use these contributions to reassess your State Pension, and any increase is backdated to 1 January 2024. If you think this applies to you or to a parent, it is worth asking.
Credits for maternity leave, caring leave and unemployment
Credited contributions are the other way gaps get filled. You get them automatically while you are on Maternity Benefit, Carer's Benefit or Jobseeker's Benefit, and you may also get them while you are on Carer's Allowance. For unpaid parental leave, and for unpaid carer's leave (up to 104 weeks), your employer has to contact the Department so the weeks are credited to you. If you took this kind of leave, check that the weeks appear on your record.
If you spent years receiving Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance, ask how those weeks will count towards your pension. The Department may convert eligible credits into HomeCaring Periods where this improves your entitlement. This can matter because only 520 credited contributions can count under the Total Contributions Approach, compared with up to 1,040 HomeCaring Periods.
To qualify for credits, you usually need paid or credited contributions in one of the last two completed tax years. If you have been out of the system for longer than that, you need to work and pay PRSI for a further 26 weeks before you can get credits again.
A worked example
Here is a simple example with round numbers. Mary worked for 20 years before and after having her children. She spent 12 years at home caring for them while they were under 12, and she had four years on Maternity Benefit and Jobseeker's Benefit over her working life.
- Paid contributions: 20 years x 52 = 1,040
- Credited contributions: 4 years x 52 = 208
- HomeCaring Periods: 12 years x 52 = 624
- Total: 1,040 + 208 + 624 = 1,872
1,872 divided by 2,080 is 90%. At the 2027 full rate of €309.30, Mary's pension would be €278.37 a week.
If Mary did not claim her HomeCaring Periods, her total would be 1,248. That is 60% of the full rate, or €185.58 a week. Under the Total Contributions Approach, the difference is €92.79 a week, or €4,825.08 a year at 2027 rates.
Up to 2033, the Department also works out the blended calculation and pays the higher of the two, so treat these figures as an illustration. Your own figure may differ, and your contribution statement is the place to start.
What you can do now
- Request your contribution statement on MyWelfare.ie. It shows your paid and credited contributions year by year.
- Make a note of your caring years: the dates your children were born, when you stopped and returned to work, and any periods you cared for a parent or relative. Keep birth certificates and any letters about Carer's Allowance or Domiciliary Care Allowance together.
- Check that maternity leave, parental leave and carer's leave show up as credits. If they do not, contact the Department.
- If you are no longer paying PRSI through work, ask whether you can pay voluntary contributions. You need at least 520 paid contributions, and you must apply within five years of the end of the last contribution year in which you paid PRSI or got credits. Only high-rate and special-rate voluntary contributions count towards the contributory State Pension, so check which rate applies to you before you pay.
- If you were born on or after 1 January 1958 and your record is short, you can choose to start your State Pension at any age between 66 and 70. Working and paying PRSI for longer can help you qualify or raise your rate, and a later start is paid at a higher rate.
- Look at your own pension alongside the State Pension. For most people the State Pension will be one part of their retirement income. If you have pensions from old jobs, my guide to finding old pensions explains how to track them down, and my guide to PRSAs and company pensions covers your options for adding to one.
If retirement is getting closer, my guide to making your retirement money last looks at how the State Pension fits with your other income.
Talk it through with me
Every PRSI record is different, and a couple of missing years can make a real difference to your income for the rest of your life. If you would like to look at your State Pension alongside your own pension and savings, book a free call with me. You can also read more about my pension advice service.
This guide is general information, not personal advice. The rules and rates mentioned are those in place in November 2026 and may change.
Future Financial Planning Ltd. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Related service: Pension advice