Publication
Irish/Australian Social Security Agreement - SW87
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
The main purpose of the Agreement is to protect the pension rights of people who have worked and paid reckonable social security contributions in both Ireland and Australia.
The Agreement does this by allowing social security contributions paid in one country to be counted towards qualifying for certain payments in the other country.
The Agreement also deals with the social security status of workers who are sent on temporary assignments from one country to the other.
The Agreement covers you if you have been subject to the social security laws of both Ireland and Australia.
Self-employed contributors are also covered by the Agreement. It also extends to your dependants and survivors, for example Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) and Guardian's (Contributory) Pensions.
The Irish payments covered under the Agreement are:
The Australian payments covered under the Agreement are:
In general, you are subject to the Social Security legislation of the country where you work.
Therefore, if you come to work in Ireland you will normally be subject to Irish social security law and pay social insurance (PRSI) contributions here.
Similarly, if you go to work in Australia, you will be subject to Australian social security laws and may have to pay social security contributions there.
Temporary Assignments
If you are sent by an Irish employer to work in Australia on a temporary assignment, you will continue to pay Irish PRSI contributions up to the first four (4) years of your employment in Australia.
If your assignment lasts longer than 4 years the agreement may be extended with the prior agreement of the two countries.
Therefore, if you are at present working in Ireland and are being sent to work in Australia on a temporary assignment, you or your employer should contact the following section:
Department of Social Protection Cork Road Waterford Telephone: (01) 4715898 LoCall: 0818 690690
If you are calling from outside the Republic of Ireland please call +353 14 715898
Note: The rates charged for using 0818 (LoCall) numbers may vary among different service providers.
This should be done as early as possible, so that the necessary forms and advice can be given.
You may qualify for social welfare payments based on a combined Irish and Australian contribution record if you do not have enough contributions on either record alone.
Irish Payments
Under the provisions of the Agreement, contributions paid in Australia can be used to satisfy the PRSI conditions for Irish payments.
However, you must have a minimum amount of Irish PRSI contributions to be eligible to combine Australian and Irish Social Security contributions.
In the case of State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Transition), Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension, and Invalidity Pension, you will need to have worked in Ireland and have a minimum of 52 Irish contributions paid or credited.
Once these conditions are satisfied a formula (see below) is used in order to establish the rate payable for:
Formula for calculating pension where Irish and Australian contributions are involved
Total number of Irish contributions
multiplied by
Amount of pension due if all the contributions were made in Ireland
and then divide by
Total combined contributions in Ireland and Australia.
The social insurance conditions vary slightly depending on the other country or countries involved.
Example
The following is an example of how we work out a pension if you have social insurance paid both in Ireland and Australia.
You have 280 Irish and 560 Australian contributions over 35 years from the date you started insurable employment up to the end of the tax year before you reach pension age.
Step 1
We work out the 'notional' pension that you would get if your contributions, both Irish and Australian were Irish contributions. To do this, we add together the Irish and Australian contributions and then we divide the total by the number of years to get the yearly average number of contributions.
A yearly average of 24 Irish contributions would give a weekly personal pension of €225.80 (State Pension rate as at January 2011) (notional amount).
Step 2
We multiply the notional pension by the number of Irish contributions and divide the answer by the total number of contributions. This gives the pro-rata pension payment.
Personal amount: €225.80 x 280 / 840= €75.27
If you qualify to receive an Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) with your Irish pension, we multiply the notional amount, including the IQA, by the number of Irish contributions and divide the answer by the total number of contributions.
Personal amount plus Increase for a Qualified Adult: €379.30 x 280/840=€126.43
These figures are based on State Pension rate as at January 2011.
Guardian's Payment (Contributory), Bereavement Grant
Once entitlement to a Guardian's Payment (Contributory) or Bereavement Grant has been established either by virtue of Irish contributions alone or by a combination of Irish and Australian contributions, the full appropriate rate is payable.
Australian Payments
Any enquiries on Australian Payments should be directed to their Centrelink International Services. Contact details can be found below.
If you live in Ireland
If you qualify you may receive an Irish payment:
If you qualify for Invalidity Pension and you get paid at a post office using Electronic Information Transfer (EIT), you may also avail of the Household Budget Service.
Bereavement Grant is a once-off payment made by cheque.
If you reside outside the State
If you qualify for an Irish pension you may have your payment made by Electronic Fund Transfer to an Irish account or an account within a financial institution outside the State. Payment will be in the currency of the country in which you hold the account. This payment will be made every four weeks. One week will be paid in advance and three weeks will be paid in arrears.
No!
If you are entitled to a payment under this Agreement, this will not affect your entitlement to a payment by another State under the provisions of the EC Regulations on Social Security.
This means that you could get a payment from another State under EC Regulations and a payment from Ireland under this Agreement at the same time.
This could arise if you had been employed in Australia, Ireland and another country covered by EC Regulations.
However, when working out a person's entitlement to a payment under this IRL/Australian Agreement, work periods completed in the other country covered by EC Regulations will not be taken into account.
You cannot claim two Irish pensions. For example, if you qualify for one based on a combined contribution record under this Agreement with Australia and another based on a combined record with another EU state under EC Regulations, you will receive whichever Irish pension is greater.
If you have at least one year of residence in Australia after reaching age 16, you can use periods of Irish PRSI contributions to help you qualify for a pension under Australian legislation.
Yes!
It is possible for a person to qualify for a payment from both countries (Ireland and Australia) at the same time.
If you live in Ireland and receive either an Irish or Australian social welfare pension, you may qualify for free benefits under the Irish social security system subject to the usual conditions.
For more information, log onto www.welfare.ie (fix link when live)
If you are residing in Ireland and wish to claim or enquire about an Irish entitlement under the Agreement, you may contact your local Social Welfare Office or for State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Transition), Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's Pension, or Guardian's Payments (Contributory), contact:
For Invalidity Pensions, contact:
For more information on Temporary Assignments contact:
With regards to entitlements to Australian benefits under the Agreement, please contact:
They will also deal with any queries about Australian benefits.
Claim forms for Australian pensions can be downloaded from here .
For application forms and information on Social Welfare Schemes and Services go here .
You can also drop in to your local local Social Welfare Office or Citizens Information Centre.