State Retirement Pension

leonard694

I know that most servicemen and women will be a long time away from getting the state pension but I thought I would write and add a word of caution with regard to the State retirement Pension and what is known as Home Responsibility Protection(HRP).
You may know that wives are entitled to a credit for National Insurance Retirment purposes if they have children up to (typically) the age of 16. This credit means that, although, they are not working, they are treated as if they are for pension purposes and a 'credit' is awarded each year.
The problem is that the governments's records are not of the best. For example, when I retired from the forces, I - like most others - had served overseas with my family. My wife asked what pension she was entitled to and the answer was given - incorrectly. First of all my wife had to correct the record as far as HRP was concerned and, secondly, she had to correct the record for HRP when we were abroad. As far as the latter is concerned, the DSS said that she was not entitled to HRP credits because she was not the first named claimant for child allowance. It was not until I pointed out that she could not be because we were overseas - and the allowance was paid through my pay - that the DSS finally allowed the credit.
The end result was that my wife's pension increased by nearly £30 per week - index linked for life - because we checked the record.
So, I would advise all servicemen and women to check their entitlement to State Pension by submitting a form BR19 (Application for Pension Forecast) and you will be able to check entitlement. If it doesn't look correct, pursue it and ask for further details.
I would just say that I have recently retired altogether and not only was my wife's HRP incorrect but so was the HRP of the wofe of a colleague - Ex- RAF - and a lady who also worked in our office.
CHECK your record with a Form BR19