Small NI stamp

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linda1949
linda1949 Posts: 6 Forumite
edited 20 December 2017 at 11:43AM in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning
I have paid national insurance since I was 16. For a few years I paid the small married women's stamp and do not receive the full state pension because of this. I feel this is very unfair as I get around £40 less a week than the full state pension. Is this correct or should I be getting full state pension. Have been retired for 9 years and this has always bugged me!!
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  • ermine
    ermine Posts: 757 Forumite
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    edited 4 December 2017 at 11:26PM
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    linda1949 wrote: »
    I have paid national insurance since I was 16. For a few years I paid the small married women's stamp and do not receive the full state pension because of this. I feel this is very unfair as I get around £40 less a week than the full state pension.

    Why do you feel this is unfair? You paid less NI, this is the government's position on the subject. It would be unfair if you paid less NI than someone else and you got the same amount of pension as they did, don't you think?

    This topic has been aired before on here.
  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 15,594 Ambassador
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    The married womens rate was 5.75% I believe instead of the full 12% so presumably you were aware that this would affect your pension in later life? Exactly how many years were you paying the reduced rate for and how many years did you pay full NI?
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  • swindiff
    swindiff Posts: 867 Forumite
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    Pay less in, get less out. Seems a pretty fair system to me
  • Jerben
    Jerben Posts: 69 Forumite
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    linda1949 wrote: »
    I get around £40 less a week than the full state pension.

    How much do you actually receive?
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 9,023 Forumite
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    “ I get around £40 less a week than the full state pension.
    I won't get the full State pension (in 2021) either, as I paid reduced NI due to being contracted out.

    However, you have had your pension from 60, whereas my State pension age will now be 66 - so you're already ahead of me.

    N.B.

    Before anyone kicks off, I'm NOT complaining about my lot as I'm MUCH better off with my contracted out pensions and reduced State pension than I would have been with just the full State pension - and I fully support the equalisation of State pension ages. I'm just pointing out that anyone who has been receiving a State pension from age 60 isn't necessarily hard done by.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,688 Forumite
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    Silvertabby wrote: »
    I won't get the full State pension (in 2021) either, as I paid reduced NI due to being contracted out.

    However, you have had your pension from 60, whereas my State pension age will now be 66 - so you're already ahead of me.

    N.B.

    Before anyone kicks off, I'm NOT complaining about my lot as I'm MUCH better off with my contracted out pensions and reduced State pension than I would have been with just the full State pension - and I fully support the equalisation of State pension ages. I'm just pointing out that anyone who has been receiving a State pension from age 60 isn't necessarily hard done by.

    I almost wrote exactly the same, Sivertabby, but we only need 35 qualifying years & I think it might have been 39(?) when the OP retired. :)
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 9,023 Forumite
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    edited 5 December 2017 at 11:28AM
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    I almost wrote exactly the same, Sivertabby, but we only need 35 qualifying years & I think it might have been 39(?) when the OP retired. :) Posted by Pollycat
    True, I'd forgotten about that.

    Back to the 'married woman's stamp' - I remember my aunt saying that her pension was just a few pounds because she had paid the 'little stamp'. She didn't complain about it as she knew it had been her choice - the paperwork she had completed clearly said that if she opted not to pay full NI, then she would not get a full State pension in her own right. However, at the time, it was either the full stamp or the mortgage.

    My mum, bless her, was of another opinion. She only ever saw 'the money in her purse' and never considered the long term options of her decisions. When I got married in the early 1990s she was adamant that 'I should get my money back from the Government' and was most put out when I said that: A. That was no longer an option, and B. That I would have opted to pay the full stamp anyway.
  • dunroving
    dunroving Posts: 1,881 Forumite
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    swindiff wrote: »
    Pay less in, get less out. Seems a pretty fair system to me

    The problem is, there are plenty of exceptions to this seemingly logical principle when it comes to NI and state pension.
    (Nearly) dunroving
  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 10,944 Forumite
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    dunroving wrote: »
    The problem is, there are plenty of exceptions to this seemingly logical principle when it comes to NI and state pension.

    Well, yes - the most obvious being that NI is a tax, and if you earn more you pay more in but don't get more State Pension (since the abolition of SSP / SERPS).

    The difference between that and the OP's situation is that she chose to pay less in knowing that she would get less out; whereas a high earner doesn't have the choice to pay less in (except by earning less money.)
  • kidmugsy
    kidmugsy Posts: 12,709 Forumite
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    Pollycat wrote: »
    we only need 35 qualifying years & I think it might have been 39(?) when the OP retired. :)

    It was 44 for me for most of my working life. I managed 45. By that time the ever-extravagant Gordon Brown had cut it to 30. Was my surplus of 15 years then passed to my wife? Of course not!

    It's sooooooo unfair.
    Free the dunston one next time too.
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