married womas pension claim at 60

barogers

like most women who paid the married womans stamp I was always under the impression that as soon as I reached 60 i would be able to claim a pension based on my husbands contributions. I was therefore upset when with only a year to go I realised this was wrong and would have to wait untill my husband is 65. As he is 3 years younger than me I would be 68 before I can claim a pension. I am now 60. Then Yesterday 13th April I read this article in the money matters of the Daily Express. I now do not understand how this woman has been climing a pension for 3 years before her husband reached pensionable age. Am I misunderstanding something.

ARTICLE
I am 63 and for the past three years I have claimed a State pension based on my former husband’s national insurance contributions. My friends now tell me that when my ex gets to 65 in November my pension will stop.
I am now living with a man who is still working but will retire at 65 in December. Do I get some of his pension? What happens if he carries on working until he is 70? Do I get any pension at all?
A Teri Harman, editor of the Your Money and Your Rights section of Choice, a magazine for older readers, says: “I am assuming that when you were 60 you substituted your ex-husband’s national insurance contributions record for your own because it gave you a better State pension than your own contributions record.
“You are allowed to do this and do not have to wait until your ex reaches state pension age. As you are over State pension age you will not lose this pension now that it has been awarded.

margaretclare

The clue is in the words 'former husband'.

She's either widowed or divorced.

When I reached 60 I was given the choice of claiming SRP either against my late husband's contributions or against my own, whichever was the more favourable. As I hadn't paid those reduced contributions you mention (the biggest con in the world) it was more favourable to me to claim against my own record.

Loughton_Monkey

barogers wrote: »

like most women who paid the married womans stamp I was always under the impression that as soon as I reached 60 i would be able to claim a pension based on my husbands contributions.

As far as I know, this has always been the case and has always been made very clear that the 'married' bit of it is only paid once the man has reached his own retirement date.

seven-day-weekend

My m-i-l was twelve years older than my f-i-l and would have been 77 before she could claim, but unfortunately he died when she was 71 and she could claim straight away.

It's always been the case afaik that if you pay married womens' stamp you have to wait until your husband reaches retirement age before you can claim a 60% pension against his NI contribution.

Edited to add: what I wrote before was wrong so I have edited my post.

Edited again, sorry!

barogers

does this mean if i divorce my husband i will be able to claim a pension immediately

McKneff

No, I think you would still have to wait till he is 65 if you were still going to claim on his contributions..

My sister claims a small pension in her own right, about £20 a week.
But when her husband reaches 65 next February, this will be topped up to the 60% pension (he is 2 years younger than her)

seven-day-weekend

barogers wrote: »

does this mean if i divorce my husband i will be able to claim a pension immediately

I have edited my former post as it was wrong - Senior moment there! Sorry.

anmarj

Originally Posted by barogers
does this mean if i divorce my husband i will be able to claim a pension immediately[/.QUOTE]

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

No - I have edited my former post as it was wrong - Senior moment there! Sorry.

SDW - you are incorrect in that, if she was divorced or widow then the husband does not have to been state pension age. For divorce they use a subsitution method where they look at both people contributions and see which is the better off, for widows again they look at the deceased person's entitlement state pension age or not and then see what can be inhertied. The 60% only applies where they are married, where the op would have to wait until the husband was state pension age but the rules are now that he does not have to be claiming his sp in order for her to claim but he must be state pension age

if you google NP46, and go to page 85 it explains about divorce, but you have to be divorced and not remarried before you reach state pension age to qualify (should say that some are not working as they are updating it with the new info)

jem16

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

No - I have edited my former post as it was wrong - Senior moment there! Sorry.

As anmarj says you were actually correct in your original post.

barogers

thanks to everyone I think I now understand. The fact is if I had divorced when i reached 60 I could have used the substitution method no matter what the age of my ex, but because I have stayed married I have to wait untill my husband reaches 65. Another unequality. I also understand that this has always been the case but the fact is as with so many things related to the married womans stamp no person ever explained this to me.

McKneff

I feel the same way about the married womens stamp that i dont feel that things were explained but I can only now presume that it
must have been in writing (which none of us probably read properly) I suppose all we saw was do you want to pay a
a. reduced stamp of say £2
or
b. a full stamp of say £8

There must have been a form which we signe otherwise we would not have been paying the MWS, we had to opt for that one on paper
if we didnt, we would have automatically have kept on at full stamp, but hey ho, at least we know now and we can pass on our knowledge to others


When you dont have a lot coming in (and Im going back to 1968 when we were all a bit niaive) your going to choose the former.

So the enequality was there then, only it was in our favour really.

Luckily, Im 61 now, stopped paying NI when I got to 60 anyway so that saves a bit on the salary each month.