Do you get a pension if you claimed income support?

Kimberley

Hi can you tell me what happens to single mums who bought up children on income support? I have been on income support since my first child was born in "92" I am in the process in seeking work and once i have a job i will obviously start paying contributions. What i want to know is will i still get a pension considering i was on benefits? or do i just end my life as soon as i'm a pensioner

CIS

Whether you get a pension depends on your contribution record.

The State Pension is based on 2 conditions:

Condition 1:
Since 1975 you have paid NI in anyone year at 52 * the lower earnings level and/or 50 contributions in any one year prior to 1975 .

Condition 2:
You have been paid or credited with enough contributions to reach the minimum number of qualifying years needed for a minimum state pension.
For a woman born after 1955, this is 11 yrs (may be less if you have HRP), women between 1950 and 1955,varies beween 10 and 11yrs, and women born before 1950, 10 years.


Get a state pension Forecast here
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/rpforecast.asp

From what you post, If you received the child benefit, you would currently have up to , at most 13 years of HRP. This would reduce the number of years to need for a full state pension.

However, depending on your circumstances and other benefits you may be claiming, it is possible that you have been getting your NI credited for you.

donnajunkie

well i think you would get a full pension. i have spent large periods unemployed and the government pays my national insurance automatically when i am not working provided i am signing on and receiving benefit.
i know though that if when you retire you have not paid enough national insurance then you will get part of your pension which will also get topped up with income support. i am no expert but my impression is people who fall into this category are better off. i say this because if you are getting your pension topped up with income support you dont have to pay any council tax. people on the full pension and not getting any income support do have to pay council tax. not fair is it?
its not the most unfair thing involving benefits, when you first become unemployed you have to pay council tax and only if you are unfortunate enough to be out of work for more than 6 months do you then stop paying council tax. the real unfair thing about it is the money you get in the first 6 months is no different to what you get after.

donnajunkie

just a slight correction. you dont necessarily need to be getting a benefit for the government to pay your national insurance. my uncle retired from the police when he was 50 and he had the option to sign on so that the government paid his ni. he would not have got any benefit coz of his police pension. he chose not to do this and just pays his own ni instead..

CIS

If you get your pension topped up with pension credit then you may get full council tax or reduced council tax, its means tested.

Its also means tested on your state pension, just having the state pension would be just about a low enough income to qualify for full council tax benefit.

To get the NI paid your uncle would have had to sign on, he would have had what is called an 'undelying entitlement'. Thhat is, he would have ordinarily have been entitled to the JSA if he wasn't disqualified by his income.

AFAIK you can get council tax benefit immediately if your unemployed and claiming JSA. CTB depends on your income at the time, not your working status.

shays_mum

Make sure that the DSS are aware that you were looking after your kids, as this pension is an entitlement that mothers/carers get. It should be automatic, but i would definitly make sure that your case is backdated if it already has not. Hope this helps, goodluck

CIS

HRP through Child Benefit is almost certainly always noted, I came across very , very few cases where it was not on a NI record where it should have been., but as you say it is worth double checking.

The reason a lot of carers miss out is that, unlike HRP, carers have to manually cliam HRP, its not automatically awarded.

One of the reasons that I suggested a pension forecast was that it shows any HRP on there along with other information. That one of the main reasons that I suggest to people that they get a forecast, it saves having to request all of the information in it from seperate departments.

donnajunkie

hi,
well of course i am just stating what i think based on what i know and i arent an expert.
with the full pension, when i see people who get the full state pension on the news they always say how hard up they are mainly because of the council tax. a friend of my dad gets his pension topped up with income support and he gets over £100 a week. he pays no council tax and no rent.
with regards to my uncle. well yeah i agree. that is what i pretty much said isnt it?
you do get some council tax benefit when you first become unemployed. for the first 6 months you get contribution based jsa and after that you get income based jsa. they are both exactly the same amount of money but with one you pay and with the other you dont. the last time i had to pay ct while unemployed it was £40 a month, it was only £60 when i was working. not very fair at all. there is just me and my dad and at the time he was not working. my name isnt even on the tenancy agreement.