Home Responsibilities Protection

green1970

I hope someone on here can help - this information is for my mum.

She is due to retire in Oct 2010 and a pension forecast shows that she will receive just 5/30 of state pension, so just £15 per week.

I have read through the pension service website and it looks like there's a certain number of years she can claim while me and my sister were children and she was bringing us up.

I've downloaded the form and understand she can claim 12 years - from 1976 to 1990 when my sister was 18 and finished full time education (or would it be 16?).

However, while we were at school, she did a bit of waitressing - never earning more than the lower earnings limit and therefore not paying National Insurance.

When she did work before having us and when we'd finished school, she was either on married woman's stamp as was the advice at the time or she was again under than Lower Earnings Limit.

If she puts on the form that she was employed during the times that we were little, will this jeopardise obtaining those home responsibilities protection years that she is claiming for. Does she need to mention it even though it was just casual work and very small amounts?

Seems crazy that she's been such a great supportive mother and wife and gets so little yet if she'd gone on the dole when things were tough for us, she'd have a fully funded pension - but I digress.

Could anyone help with this question please.

Thanks so much.

seven-day-weekend

Having worked and not paid NI won't jeopardise her - I did this for eight years as a lollipop lady and still got HRP - but I'm afraid paying the married women's stamp will.

If she only ever paid this, she will not be eligible for HRP.

Sorry..

See the link below which tells you this aboutt halfway down:

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/State_Pensions/Home_Responsibilities_Protection/
You cannot get HRP for any year you are entitled to pay reduced NI contributions for married women and widows.

green1970

She was always under the lower NI limit so never paid anything at all while we were kids though - does that mean she can still claim it?

Thank you for your advice so far.

seven-day-weekend

As I understand it, unless she was paying full stamp immediately before giving up work to have children, she will not be able to claim it. If she has only ever paid Married Womens' Stamp, or none, she will not have been building up any pension in her own right and HRP only applies to those who were paying full stamp. I think this is correct, but someone will correct me if I am wrong.

green1970

As she has 5/30 of a full pension, I think she must have been paying full stamp in the few years before she had us. She worked full time from the age of 15 when her mum died - I don't know whether she was taxed fully at the time as I don't know what the law was. She had me when she was 20 so I think that's where the 5 years may have come from.

jancee_2

Call the pension forecasting team and ask them to explain which years the five come from. They will also be able to tell you in which years she was entitled to pay Married Women's Election - it is the entitlement to pay that's important. It lapses after two years if you're not working. If the entitlement lapsed then she can claim HRP for the years after that in which she was either not working or not earning enough to pay NI. HRP began in April 78 and applied until the April before the youngest's 16th birthday.

There's a chance that HRP wasn't put on her record. Download a claim form from here:

http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kbroker/hmrc/forms/viewform.jsp?formId=2997

green1970

Lovely thanks Jancee, I'll help her fill out the claim form and see if that can boost her pension before we take a look at paying for additional years.

jancee_2

Happy to help.

You need to move fast. Some gap years expire this April 5.

lumar

A great example showing how much women sacrifice to have children -
the children that make the contributions for the state pension -
the pension their mother can't claim the full amount of because they were bringing up these children.
Crazy!

green1970

You're right Lumar - surely everyone should be entitled to a full state pension. Some people don't claim dole or disability out of pride - I know there were certainly times when she could have but there's no way she would have.

Both me and my sister have been in full time employment since we were 18 so we've pretty much got our state pension sorted (at least 2/3 of it). Things were different then though. The married woman's stamp was shocking advice which when taken was rarely changed (so many women must have just left things as the status quo) and the fact that someone claiming dole is fully funded while someone who followed that advice is excluded from pension funding just seems like madness to me.

But again, I digress, that's not what I care about now - I just want her to get a full state pension that she has worked hard for. We can probably pay to catch up on recent years before 5 April between me and my sister but I'd love to get her the HRP as well as that would make a big, big difference.

seven-day-weekend

However, women did have a CHOICE to pay the married women's stamp or not.

I agree it was a dreadful policy, but you could choose to pay the full stamp if you wished.

I paid married women's stamp for a year, then realised that it was a no-brainer and changed back, as I wanted to build up a pension in my own tight.

Having said all that, I hope you can get something sorted out for your mum, and I have learned something from this thread,as I didn't realise the entitlement to pay these lapsed after two years if you were not working. If that happened then she may well be entitled to some HRP.

Good luck!