Pro-rata pension entitlement for part-time workers 'discriminatory', says Supreme Court
Thursday, April 11, 2013 @ 11:16 AM
THE Supreme Court has abolished what it calls a 'discriminatory' way of calculating State pension entitlements for part-time workers.
A minimum of 35 years of contribution into the Social Security pot through work or self-employment is required to qualify for a full State pension, but a person who has worked for 50 years at 20 hours a week will only be considered as having contributed for 25, meaning they will not get the full amount.
A person who has worked for 40 years at 10 hours a week will be considered to have contributed for just 10 years, since contribution is calculated on a pro-rata basis of a standard 40-hour week.
The court says this is discrimination, particularly against women who tend to be the ones more likely to work part-time as they are statistically more frequently the ones who bear the lion's share of childcare, particularly in the early years.
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