Persons who worked in UK may be entitled to benefit advises O'Rourke

"Have you ever worked in the UK," asked Ballinamore area Cllr Paddy O'Rourke. "If so you might be entitled to a UK pension."

Due to a temporary concession persons from Ireland who worked for at least three consecutive years paying national insurance (the equivalent of our PRSI) may have an opportunity to buy as many as 16 years of contributions instead of the usual six years," he said.

 

"But this opportunity may be short-lived despite a suggested cut of date of April 2025. There appears to be moves afoot to bring down the shutter on this opportunity provoked by the unforeseen avalanche of applications from many countries with the obvious financial implications for the UK’s government. 

 

"So time is of the essence. If you think you might be entitled to such a benefit don’t delay, move right away to establish your entitlements by viewing your national insurance record on www.gov.uk to verify if eligible.

 

"Some may opt to have one of the many private financial practitioners act on their behalf which will obviously attract a fee but for those not familiar with online transactions it may be an option once you are sure you are dealing with a registered bonded practitioner," he said.

 

Cllr O'Rourke continued that "given the high level of emigration experienced from County Leitrim and the north west in general during the reference years it is inevitable many from this region will qualify but you must act now so don’t delay, establish your entitlement and move to access it," he concluded.