State Pension For Married Women

CIS

She's under the impression, however, that because she's married she'll not get much of a state pension and that it'll be a joint state pension of around £150 per week that they'll pay out to my dad. I don't think this is right - I thought everyone was entitled to the same basic state pension plus extra based on how many extra NI contributions they may have made after reaching the 39 years regardless of marriage and that it would be paid out to people as individuals and not a couple.

In order to avoid the confusion that the OP had ,I thought it better to point out the lowest pension that would be paid is the 60% figure, from experience pointing out tends to alleviate some of the worry people have about how much pension they'll get.

The reason I tend to do this is that just becuase someone has worked all their lives, up to 44yrs for a woman retiring at 60, it doesn't automatically mean that they have paid enough NI to accrue qualifying yrs.

From cases Ive dealt with, it does happen that people work all their lives, expect a full pension and then find they hadn't earned enough to pay the requisite NI and accrue the needed qualifying yrs.

mleonard79

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the helpful info. Margaret claire I'm the eldest of two and I was born in 1979 so I assume my mum would get the credits for that like you say. She had a year off with me (I was a sickly baby!) and 9 months off with my much healthier brother. I can't see any way she won't have enough contributions then but I'm going to do the pension forecast for her and I'll let you know what it comes up with. You're right that is an awful shame for all those women who thought they didn't have a choice and have ended up with so little. I had no idea that ever existed - you learn something new every day! Thanks a lot again.

Michelle

Be_Happy

I've a vague memory that I read somewhere there was a condition in getting Home Responsibility Protection in that you could only get complete Tax Years April - April counted eg 6 months in one Tax Year and 6 months in the next Tax Year couldn't be counted. Can't see this on Gov website, so may be wrong, but may be worth checking up on.

seven-day-weekend

SilverLady wrote:

I've a vague memory that I read somewhere there was a condition in getting Home Responsibility Protection in that you could only get complete Tax Years April - April counted eg 6 months in one Tax Year and 6 months in the next Tax Year couldn't be counted. Can't see this on Gov website, so may be wrong, but may be worth checking up on.

Yes, AFAIK it is complete tax years.

EdInvestor

It will be interesting to see the result of this forecast - if Michelle's mother always earned a reasonable salary and has virtually a full NI record post 1978, she could be in for almost double the basic state pension via the extra coming from S2P.

Her husband obviously gets a bit of S2P - about 15 quid - but because of his age probably only accrued about 10 years worth of contributions, whereas she will have the full amount.

So this one could be a pleasant surprise.

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote:

It will be interesting to see the result of this forecast - if Michelle's mother always earned a reasonable salary and has virtually a full NI record post 1978, she could be in for almost double the basic state pension via the extra coming from S2P.

It certainly will be a surprise, because Michelle in her original post said that her mother thought she wouldn't have much of a pension at all. A happy surprise, and I'd love to hear the outcome.

It all depends on the level of her earnings post-1978, doesn't it? My DH was in good jobs for a lot of that time. Until redundancies in the mid-1990s he'd been in management-type jobs, then worked in a call-centre up to age 65 which, because of the shifts, was quite well-paid. As I said, he gets the same amount again in SERPS, £166.91 a week in total. Definitely worth having, and again, it emphasises how much has been lost by women who opted for the 'married women's contribution', many of whom are not yet retired.

Margaret Clare

CIS

Home Responsibilities protection kicks in only for complete tax years from the year beginning 6/4 after the date of birth until the 5/4 prior to the 16th birthday, ie: 15yrs.

Just because you worked all or part of any eligible yr doesn't disqualify that yr for HRP, if the yrs earnings weren't enough to make it a qualifying yr then a yrs HRP would be accrued - reagrdless of whther you worked 52 weeks or 0 weeks in the yr.

(For anyone whos interested though, theres a reasonably new rules which allows a person to claim child benefit with the first 3 months of tax yr and have HRP backdated to the start of the tax yr.)

Lizzybet_2

Could some kind person please tell me more about SERPS.....or point me to a site that will. I know what the initials mean, but no more than that. Thanks.

CIS

SERPS - State Earnings Related Pension Scheme
S2P - State Second Pension

Both of the above are the two components of Additional Pension (AP), the scheme was renamed and changed from SERPS (1978-2002).

Further Info is available here
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/np46/np46apr05.pdf

keaskin

CIS wrote:

Home Responsibilities protection kicks in only for complete tax years from the year beginning 6/4 after the date of birth until the 5/4 prior to the 16th birthday, ie: 15yrs.

Just because you worked all or part of any eligible yr doesn't disqualify that yr for HRP, if the yrs earnings weren't enough to make it a qualifying yr then a yrs HRP would be accrued - reagrdless of whther you worked 52 weeks or 0 weeks in the yr.

(For anyone whos interested though, theres a reasonably new rules which allows a person to claim child benefit with the first 3 months of tax yr and have HRP backdated to the start of the tax yr.)

when home responsibilities started in 1978 did this include children born pre 1978 as i have child born september 1974 and september 1978 i sent for pension forcast and they say i have 14 qualifying years not 15 are they correct or do i contact them again.