Married Womans stamp 2 year sign off rule?

Maidenover · 19 March 2010 at 4:05PM

Hi everyone
I'm sorry if my problems have been discussed on here previously but I didn't want to tack my query onto someone's else's thread - so please bare with me.

I am 60 tomorrow (20th March) and have been trying to sort out my State Pension entitlement since Sept 2009. I am still in a mess with all the different departments I have been passed to and from.

Basically I only had 22 years that qualified me for 58% of a State Pension. I queried this as I felt I was entitled to more. They took ages to reply to my query on this and eventually obtained some manual records going back to 1968 - 1977 which (they say) show I only paid the MW stamp. I never agreed to pay the lower amount and they admit that many women were automatically put on this rate without knowing about it. Great!

So...I can't appeal on this and to make matters worse there are 2 years where I could have got HRP (1977 -1979) but they wont allow it because they keep the MW NI rate available to you for 2 years unless you "sign it off". I pointed out I couldn't have done that as I didn't know I was on it.
How many women know of the 2 year sign off rule?

I am also further disadvantaged as my birth date falls just 2 weeks prior to new legislation which says you will only need to have 30 years to qualify for a full pension instead of the 39 years I need. They are phasing in every other bit of legislation except this one...so once again I have been penalised.

I am so angry but feel totally frustrated as I think it is almost impossible to get them to listen to you as an individual. They have no evidence to support their claim that I elected to pay MW stamp but I just have to accept it. I would be happier if they would allow me the 2 years credit for the sign off years but I cant see how I can appeal.

Is there anyone with a similar problem - I would be pleased to hear from you.

seven-day-weekend · 19 March 2010 at 5:01PM

I feel for you, but apparently what they say is quite true; some employers automatically put you on the MW stamp as it cost them less. The only information the Pension service would have had to go by is that your employers would have told them that you were on MW stamp.

So I don't see that there is now anything you can do about that, unfortunately.

Will they let you buy any years you might have missed?

Maidenover · 19 March 2010 at 5:32PM

Hi, thanks for reply.
Yes they have given me option to pay for last 6 years up to 2009/10 which will cost me £3,330. I should have claimed benefit for these years but couldn't face the hassle at the job centre. Basically I had a really bad fall at work and hurt my back. I have been unable to work since and been on physio and painkillers since. I know that is down to me just being up to making a claim but my Mum had just died and I really wasn't up to it. I sound like a disaster I know but really it was just a very bad patch I was going through. I will pay for these 6 years as I know it was my own fault for not getting them credited but its the past years that really bugs me.

I was working for most of the time my children were small and feel really let down my this system. If I had stayed at home and not worked or claimed benefits (which I have never done) I would have qualified for Home responsibility protection for the years up until the youngest reached 16 years of age. As it happens all those years I worked and paid MW stamp dont count for anything....how bad is that?

The system penalises those who try to work and pay into the system and rewards those who dont bother. I feel very bitter.

seven-day-weekend · 19 March 2010 at 5:50PM

Luckily no-one has been able to opt for married women's stamp since 1978. However, those who were already on it were allowed to stay on it and there are still women our age coming up to retirement who have NO pension.

I agree with you the Married Womens' Stamp was a swindle and apparently many women (like yourself) either didn't know about it or didn't realise the implications of paying it.

I'm glad to say I had a very good employer, so I always knew the implications and did not opt for paying it. (Well I did for a year but then changed back to full stamp again).

Seems as though your employer was just out to save some money.

I'm glad though that you can buy six years' worth. That will give your Pension a good boost.

Errata · 19 March 2010 at 5:56PM

Sorry you've found yourself in such a disadvantaged position, and I appreciate you may not have given permission for the MW stamp. You would have noticed on all your wage slips that you were paying a couple of shillings NI, rather than a couple of pounds, for each week and I guess it's felt that you had the opportunity to change back to the full stamp but didn't do so.
Tough luck about the cutoff date, it must seem very unfair.

Maidenover · 19 March 2010 at 6:22PM

Trouble is we are talking about the years from 1968 up to 1977 and the wages were not very high so I wouldn't have really noticed the amount of NI being small by comparison as I had nothing to compare it with. I married at age 18 in 1968 and the 2 previous years from 1966 to 1968 I worked in London for one of the big 5 banks. When I married I moved to a more local branch and the wages went down considerably so would not really have been aware of any changes in the stamp. I then had 2 children in 1968 & 1969 and took part time work anywhere I could get it - mostly working for small building firms who employed accountants to do the wages and who never advised me about the NI rates. I divorced in 1977 and it was then I couldn't work for 2 years due to all the upheaval I stayed at home with the children but they wont credit me with the HRP for those years saying the MW stamp had not been signed off.
I think it is scandalous that they expect us to be experts in understanding how their very complictaed system works. Try talking to the Pensions Office and then the HMRC office and see how confused they are about various legislation. The differing statements I have received from Glasgow would astound you. One female I spoke to said "hang on a minute I need to go online to check what it says on the internet as I don't know about this bit". She then proceded to give me totally wrong information about the extra 6 years you can pay back - telling me I didn't qualify because I was born in 1950!! I know lots of women who will have just given up because it is so complicated and I suppose that is what they are hoping will happen....less for them to pay out.

hethmar · 20 March 2010 at 12:37AM

I was in the same position and I hit the big 6-0 2 weeks ago. However I bought back several years of contributions and my pension is now £82.03 a week. If they are still willing for you to do it, bite the bullet and pay up for those years as they will make a huge difference. I think before I bought the years my pension was forecast to be about £60 a week, so the money I paid will very quickly be recouped and hopefully I will have many years of the extra £1k a year.

Niggles · 20 March 2010 at 6:26PM

My wife is in a very similar situation to you and was on MWS in 1976 and looking after the children. As you say if you were on MWS but not actually paying a stamp for a period of two years then you were automatically converted to full stamp and so HRP then started in her case 1978. With working till 2010, some full stamp years prior to marriage and some Class 3 purchases she has just been able to reach full SP.
However you state that you only have 22 years which implies to me that you may have some partial years between 1979 and 2010. If this is the case then you might meet the "New arrangements introduced in April 2009 for purchasing additional years under Class 3 voluntary contributions" as my wife did.
When we looked into it some of the earlier years we could purchase were much cheaper than later years and some years had very nearly a complete year credited requiring only a small additional contribution.
It is my understanding that these rules were introduced because of the reduction in qualifying years from 39 to 30.
It is also my understanding that these new rules permit six additional years over and above the "normal" six years making a total of twelve years, (we only needed two years)
The qualifications are:
1) You reach State Pension age between April 2008 and April 2015
2) If you reached SP age prior to April 2010 you have at least one year of paid NI contributions
3) You already have 20 qualifying years for SP which include HRP years.

You may know all this but if not an investigation could be worthwhile, it was for us.

Married Womans stamp 2 year sign off rule?

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