108.—F656[(1) Subject to this Act, a person shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) where he or she—

(a) has applied for that benefit in the prescribed manner,

(b) has attained pensionable age or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be, and

(c) satisfies the contribution conditions in section 109.]

F657[(1A) Subject to subsection (1), a person who has attained the age of 66 years shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) payable at the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) for age 66 years.

(1B) Subject to subsections (1) and (1C), a person born on or after 1 January 1958—

(a) who has attained the age of 67 years, and has never been awarded a State pension (contributory), shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) payable at the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) for age 67 years,

(b) who has attained the age of 68 years, and has never been awarded a State pension (contributory), shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) payable at the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) for age 68 years,

(c) who has attained the age of 69 years, and has never been awarded a State pension (contributory), shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) payable at the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) for age 69 years, and

(d) who has attained the age of 70 years, and has never been awarded a State pension (contributory), shall be entitled to State pension (contributory) payable at the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) for age 70 years.

(1C) A person shall not be entitled to the age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) payable for his or her age at the date of his or her claim, except to the extent specified in subsection (1B) of section 109 where, having attained pensionable age, the person is or has been in receipt of a specified weekly payment.]

[1993 s83(2); 2005 (SW&P) s22]

(2) In this Chapter—

F658[‘age referenced rate of State pension (contributory)’ means the rate of State pension (contributory) specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2 applicable for a claimant’s age, which, on satisfying the contribution conditions set out in section 109, is payable to a claimant upon attaining pensionable age or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be, and once an age referenced rate of State pension (contributory) has been so awarded to a claimant, that rate shall remain payable to the claimant concerned for the remaining period of his or her claim;]

F659[‘aggregated contributions method’, in relation to a claimant, has the meaning assigned to it by section 109(6B);]

F658[‘deferred pensionable age’ means, in relation to a person born on or after 1 January 1958 who has attained pensionable age—

(a) the age at which he or she is awarded a State pension (contributory), or

(b) the age of 70 years,

whichever is the lesser age and, in any event, does not apply to a person born on or before 31 December 1957;]

F659[‘home caring period’ means, in the case of a person who attained pensionable age on F660[on or after 1 September 2012, or deferred pensionable age on or after 1 January 2024, as the case may be,] any contribution week during which—

(a) he or she was aged 16 or over but under F661[pensionable age or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be,] and was resident in the State, or was a person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 219(2),

F662[(b) he or she was not engaged in remunerative employment, other than employment specified in paragraph 5 of Part 2 of Schedule 1, or he or she does not have a qualifying contribution or a credited or voluntary contribution reckonable (‘contribution reckonable’) for State pension (contributory) purposes,]

(c) he or she was not in receipt of a weekly payment under this Act, other than a payment under section 100 or 180, or a payment under section 186F, and

(d) he or she can, in accordance with regulations made under subsection (2B), demonstrate that, due to the nature and extent of his or her home carer responsibilities, he or she was unable to engage in insurable employment or self-employment;

and “home carer” shall be construed accordingly,]

“homemaker” means a person who—

F663[(a) is resident in the State, or is a person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 219(2), and is under pensionable age F664[or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be],]

(b) is not engaged in remunerative employment, other than employment specified in paragraph 5 of Part 2 of Schedule 1,

(c) either—

(i) resides with and cares for a child under 12 years of age on a full-time basis, or

(ii) resides with and provides full-time care and attention to a person who is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention within the meaning of section 179(4), or

(iii) subject to the conditions and in the circumstances that may be prescribed, does not reside with but provides full-time care and attention to a person who is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention within the meaning of section 179(4),

and

(d) other than in the case of the class or classes of person that may be prescribed, makes application to be regarded as a homemaker in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time;

F658[‘qualifying contribution’ other than in respect of a specified contribution week, includes a long-term carer’s qualifying contribution;]

F658[’specified contribution week’ means a contribution week where the claimant received employment contributions at the rate specified in Article 81(2)(a), 82(2)(a) or 83(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1996 and was attributed with a long-term carer’s qualifying contribution in respect of that contribution week;]

F658[’specified weekly payment’ means a payment specified in Schedule 5A;]

“yearly average” means, subject to subsection (3), in relation to any claimant, the average per contribution year of contribution weeks in respect of which that claimant has qualifying contributions, voluntary contributions or credited contributions in the period beginning—

(a) on 5 January 1953 in case the claimant is a man, or on 6 July 1953 in case the claimant is a woman, or

(b) at the beginning of the contribution year in which the claimant's entry into insurance occurred (where after 5 January 1953 in the case of a man, or 6 July 1953 in the case of a woman),

(whichever is the later) and ending at the end of the last complete contribution year before the date of his or her F665[attaining pensionable age F666[or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be] and where, in the case of a claim made on or after 13 July 1992, the average so calculated is a fraction of a whole number consisting of one-half or more it shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number and where it is a fraction of less than one-half it shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number;]

F658[‘yearly average approach’ means the rate of State pension (contributory) to which a claimant would be entitled to on the basis of the claimant’s yearly average or alternative yearly average whichever is more favourable to him or her;]

“alternative yearly average” means, in relation to any claimant, the average per contribution year of contribution weeks in respect of which that claimant has qualifying contributions, voluntary contributions or credited contributions in the period beginning on 6 April 1979 and ending at the end of the last complete contribution year before the date of his or her F667[attaining pensionable age F668[or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be,] and where, in the case of a claim made on or after 13 July 1992, the average so calculated is a fraction of a whole number consisting of one-half or more it shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number and where it is a fraction of less than one-half it shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number.]

F669[(2A) The question whether a person satisfies the criteria set out in the definition of ‘homemaker’ F670[or ‘home caring period’] in subsection (2) is a question that may be decided by a deciding officer.]

F671[(2B) The Minister may by regulations make provision for the conditions required to be satisfied in order to qualify for home caring periods, and any such regulations may provide for—

(a) the class or classes of person who may be regarded as a home carer,

(b) the class or classes of person in respect of whom a home carer may provide care for the purpose of home caring periods,

(c) the evidence that may be offered by a person to demonstrate the nature, extent and duration of home caring.]

[1996 s24]

(3) In the case of a claimant who was a homemaker for the duration of any complete contribution year, beginning on or after 6 April 1994, in which the claimant does not have any credited contributions or voluntary contributions, that contribution year shall be disregarded for the purposes of determining the yearly average of that claimant subject to the total number of contribution years so disregarded not exceeding 20.

[1993 s83(3); 1997 s35 & Sch G]

(4) In this Chapter, “relevant person” means—

(a) a person who first becomes—

(i) an insured person by virtue of section 12(1) insured for F672[State pension (contributory)] purposes, or

(ii) an insured person by virtue of section 20,

on or after 6 April F673[1991,]

(b) a person who fails to satisfy the contribution condition in section 109(1)(c) and had periods in which he or she had been—

(i) employed mainly in one or more of the employments in respect of which employment contributions at the rate specified in Article 81(2)(a), 82(2)(a) or 83(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1996 were paid, and

(ii) an employed contributor, a self-employed contributor or a voluntary contributor in respect of whom contributions, reckonable for the purposes of the contribution conditions for entitlement to F672[State pension (contributory)] were paid in respect of or credited to him or F674[her, or]

F675[(c) a person who is not a relevant person by virtue of subparagraph (i) or (ii) of paragraph (a) but who—

(i) in the case of a person who attains pensionable age or deferred pensionable age, as the case may be, on or after 1 January 2024, has long-term carer’s qualifying contributions attributed in accordance with section 108A on the date of the person’s claim, and

(ii) in the case of a person who attained pensionable age prior to 1 January 2024, had long-term carer’s qualifying contributions attributed in accordance with section 108A.]

[1993 s83(4)]

F676[(5) For the purpose of this Chapter, in the case of a relevant person, ‘entry into insurance’ means, subject to subsection (8)—

(a) in relation to a person—

(i) the date on which the person becomes an insured person for the first time by virtue of section 12(1), except where he or she becomes an insured person by virtue of paragraph (b) of section 12(1) only, or

(ii) the date on which he or she becomes an insured person for the first time by virtue of section 20,

whichever of subparagraph (i) or (ii) first occurs and, subject to paragraph (b), that date shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance for the purposes of section 109(1), and

(b) in relation to a person in relation to whom long-term carer’s qualifying contributions were attributed in accordance with section 108A, the date of the first of such contributions or, if applicable to that person, the date on which he or she first becomes a person to whom subparagraph (i) or (ii) of paragraph (a) applies, whichever first occurs.]

[1993 s83(5)]

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5), regulations may provide that the date on which a relevant person first becomes an employed person or a self-employed person, insurable for F672[State pension (contributory)] purposes under the legislation of another Member State, or under the legislation of any other State with which the Minister has made a reciprocal arrangement under section 287, may be regarded as the date of entry into insurance.

[1993 s83(6)]

(7) Notwithstanding subsections (5) and (6), regulations may provide that where a date of entry into insurance occurs before a date to be prescribed, that day may be regarded as the date of entry into insurance.

[1993 s83(7)]

(8) For the purposes of this Chapter, in the case of a person who became a self-employed contributor on 6 April 1988 and who at any time before that date was an employed contributor, the date on which the person first entered into insurance or 6 April 1988, whichever is the more favourable to him or her, shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance but where a date other than that on which the claimant first entered into insurance is so regarded, that date shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance for the purposes of F677[section 109(1)].

F678[(9) The amount payable by way of F672[State pension (contributory)] for any day on or after which a person has attained pensionable age but before the day on which the person first receives payment of F672[State pension (contributory)], shall be one-seventh of the appropriate weekly rate, subject to the total amount being paid at any time by virtue of this subsection being rounded up to the nearest 10 cent where it is a multiple of 5 cent but not also a multiple of 10 cent and being rounded to the nearest 10 cent where it is not a multiple of 5 cent or 10 cent.]