Tracking down long lost employer contributions to state pension -from student jobs

BossArky

Hi all,

Background:
I have a question regarding how I track down pension contributions made through various part-time jobs I had during my secondary school and University student days prior to immigration.

I have lived and worked outside of Ireland since completing my M.Sc in Ireland 12 years ago. I've now got a number of different pension plans from various jobs & countries since then (France, UK & Australia) which I am now thinking about consolidating into one.

It occurred to me that I also had many student jobs during my secondary school and University times in Ireland which I had forgotten about. These were all on the payroll (e.g. working in pubs/factories/businesses/warehouses/supermarkets, etc..... typical student work).

Questions:
1) How can I track down if any contributions were made by those Irish employers to state pension plans? I'm fully expecting the amounts contributed to be very little, but I'm interested in finding out all the same.

2) What sort of identification do I need to provide to track down long lost state pension plan info in Ireland?

3) Does student work such as the above even count towards a state pension plan?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

noodler

When you say pension plan, do you mean the state pension funded by social contributions?

Because I've never had a part time job that had a private pension scheme.

If you mean state then you could possibly have been able to get some of your contributions back as some foreign countries, eg Japan, allow these to be refunded. But we also have pension arrangements with many countries which simply allow social contributions in one country to count in another.

whomitconcerns

You think that they gave you a pension in typical student jobs??? Really????

Kristopherus

Op, if you still know what your PPS Number is, you should write to: DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL PROTECTION,
Client Eligibility Services
EU Records
McCarters Road
Buncrana
Co. Donegal
Ireland

They will be able to tell you what your total contributions are and you can then make arrangements to amalgamate some or all your records. Have a browse through www.welfare.ie.

BossArky

noodler wrote: »

When you say pension plan, do you mean the state pension funded by social contributions?

whomitconcerns wrote: »

You think that they gave you a pension in typical student jobs??? Really????

BossArky wrote: »

Questions:
1) How can I track down if any contributions were made by those Irish employers to state pension plans

2) What sort of identification do I need to provide to track down long lost state pension plan info in Ireland?

3) Does student work such as the above even count towards a state pension plan?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Correct - State pension plan contributions from my various ex-employers is what I'm interested in.

I worked part-time jobs since I was 14... all the way from 3rd year in secondary school up through 5th and 6th year... and then a job each year whilst at Uni for 5 years. At one stage I had three different jobs whilst supporting myself through Uni in 3rd year (working a chipper some days, washing dishes in a hotel another 2 nights, and then warehouse stuff at a large manufacturer on weekends).

As stated in my original post I'm fully expecting the contributions from the various employers to be marginal or close to zero, but interested nonetheless as I was paying tax with these various forms of employment and thus they must have counted to some form of social security.

The reason I'm asking is because I'm project myself forward from current age (early 30's) to my retirement age (decades in the future, actually hopefully just a decade) and wondering about this stuff now, when it was the last thing on my mind when I started a slave driven working career at age 14.

Constructive input appreciated. Cheers.

BossArky

Kristopherus wrote: »

Op, if you still know what your PPS Number is, you should write to: DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL PROTECTION,
Client Eligibility Services
EU Records
McCarters Road
Buncrana
Co. Donegal
Ireland

They will be able to tell you what your total contributions are and you can then make arrangements to amalgamate some or all your records. Have a browse through www.welfare.ie.

Great info. Thanks. I will investigate.

Much appreciated.

hfallada

Ireland is not like Germany. Where the more you pay in social security (PRSI), the larger your pension will be in. In Ireland you either have paid enough PRSI stamps or not. If you havent paid enough you dont get a contributory pension. I seriously doubt you paid enough for a contributory pension

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

marco_polo

hfallada wrote: »

Ireland is not like Germany. Where the more you pay in social security (PRSI), the larger your pension will be in. In Ireland you either have paid enough PRSI stamps or not. If you havent paid enough you dont get a contributory pension. I seriously doubt you paid enough for a contributory pension

There sort of is, in so far as the final rate of payment for a contributory state pension is based on your average number contribution over the years, but is true that the total amount you have paid in over the years doesn't matter.

He wouldn't likely of course qualify for a standalone pension in Ireland based on a few years here but he is still quite possibly entitled to a contribution from the state if he is in receipt of a state pension from a country that we have Bilateral agreements with (Which we do with all those listed in the OP AFAIK).

murphaph

The OP should also establish if he can get credits in his adopted country for time spent in school or university in Ireland. The Irish system gives no such credit but the German system does, for example, so you can get an increased German pension for the years you spent in university in Ireland long before moving to Germany, crazy as that may seem.