Reach State Retirement age before wife

orionesr1

I am due to retire in Oct 2012 at the age of 65. My wife who is not working does not reach her state retirement age until May 2015. Will we have to survive on my single pension, or are there some allowances that I can claim to help support her?

Orionesr

sleepless_saver

You could claim pension credit which you will get if your income is low enough. At the moment it does not matter for pension credit if your wife is below state pension age but that could change.

Other options - you could continue working as well as drawing your state pension. Or your wife could start working if she is able.