Pension Age Going Up and Strikes Public Sector

Ladywriter1968

My situation at the moment is that I am not working and not signing on or claiming any benefit as I cant as my husband works full time, I have a few health issues which makes it hard for me to work at the moment, But I have worked previously but since not working my stamp is a bit low. So I thought if I paid into a private one for myself then at least if my state pension ends up low I will have the private one I paid into, plus my husband will get full state pension and he had a private one previous with royal mail which when he was made redundant that is now frozen, you said its not called frozen but I mean he cant put no more into it as was set up by company. But he will get it along with state pension when he retires.

But I wonder when we both come to retirement age whether we will get our pensions separately or whether they will combine them together, just a thought that popped into my head? as since my sister in law and her husband, he is on sick and she worked longer then he did, so I think its different for them. he gets disability I think and she gets pension, not really sure how it all works to be honest. But as stated I dont claim any credits. I cant sign on if I cant work until my health improves and I cant claim sick or ESA I think they call it because my husband works, so I am kind of stuck in a rut really.

When my health improves I will start to look for work again which wont be easy as they dont really take kindly to people with health problems, but oh well.

jem16

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

But I wonder when we both come to retirement age whether we will get our pensions separately or whether they will combine them together,

Pensions are paid separately based initially on your own NI contributions. If your NI contributions turn out to be too low you can claim 60% of your husband's if that is greater than your own.

atush

you are making a big mistake here. You need to sign on, as this will give you time/years in the state pension system. Not to mention what you might get (even the basic) in any benefits. Some are means tested, and some aren't.

Second, if you are too ill to work, again you might get a benefit but even if you would fail means testing, you would still be adding years to your state pension. Get advice from the CAB, or the local aurhtority, and most importantly get a state pension forcast.

Ladywriter1968

atush wrote: »

you are making a big mistake here. You need to sign on, as this will give you time/years in the state pension system. Not to mention what you might get (even the basic) in any benefits. Some are means tested, and some aren't.

Second, if you are too ill to work, again you might get a benefit but even if you would fail means testing, you would still be adding years to your state pension. Get advice from the CAB, or the local aurhtority, and most importantly get a state pension forcast.

I cant sign on because I cant work because of my health, and ESA wont help because husband works ft. I doubt they would pay my stamp, only ones that will is JSA and you have to be fit for work with them.

I have tried to get a benefit and even applied more then once, but cause husband earns over the threshold I cant get anything. Thats the problem

Ladywriter1968

Also I was told that JSA only pay lower class of stamp, is this true?

Ladywriter1968

Just found and pasted this from ESA site. You will not be entitled to income-related
Employment and Support Allowance if your
partner is working more than 24 hours a week.

My husband works full time. The only ESA I could get would be income related as I have not paid enough stamp and I cant get this as my husband works more then 24hrs wk and to get the other one contribution based you need to have paid enough stamps and I have not. So you see I am stuck really. I cant get anything

Ladywriter1968

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa1-print.pdf
Link for ESA where I saw it. You can only sign on get JSA if you are fit for work, and I am not at the moment.

candykisses

Kew2u wrote: »

You claim to give advice, gadget, so as well as asking your question, how about a offering a few pension savings options to those people without the money to do it?

my thoughts exactly - I work in the private sector and we don't have a company pension scheme. I bring home £1500 per month net and after paying all my bills etc there isn't a lot left over - certainly haven't got a spare £300 per month to pay into a pension (ie the recommended amount).

I'm 40 years old and started paying £150 per month into a private pension two years ago but had to freeze the payments when I split up from an abusive partner - I had to take on a new mortgage, furnish it from scratch.

So I don't know what the heck to do - least I don't have to go on strike about the pension I don't have

One thing is I have no kids, so when I'm 58 and the mortgageis paid off I'll have a bit more to myself and probably when I'm 70 will sell the house to an equity scheme to get some money as there's nobody I will be leaving it to.

StevieJ

kidmugsy wrote: »

It's a response to two things. (i) People are living much longer - blame prosperity, blame God, blame antibiotics, blame anti-smoking propaganda, blame whatever you like. (ii) The public finances are in ruins and there's no doubt about the blame - it was the Labour Party that did it.

Did they also do it to Germany,France, Italy,Spain, Greece, Portugal and Uncle Tom Cobley an all Only today we have

placing the ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on negative outlook. They might be downgraded one or two notches early in 2012. They’re putting every investment-grade eurozone sovereign on negative outlook so expect a few more supplementary statements. Fitch had affirmed France’s AAA rating but revised it to negative at pixel time.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/12/16/804161/fitch-big-euro-fix-technically-and-politically-beyond-reach/

atush

Ladywriter1968 wrote: »

Just found and pasted this from ESA site. You will not be entitled to income-related
Employment and Support Allowance if your
partner is working more than 24 hours a week.

My husband works full time. The only ESA I could get would be income related as I have not paid enough stamp and I cant get this as my husband works more then 24hrs wk and to get the other one contribution based you need to have paid enough stamps and I have not. So you see I am stuck really. I cant get anything

If you are not fit to work, then you can get a doctor to confirm this. Being not fit to work is not means tested in that you won't get at least some benefits or recognition of your condition that you cannot work.

I suggest getting in your wheelchaor or whatever to the CAB right away. Your partner does have holiday pay of some kind if they work in the UK so he can take a day off if you need them to help you get there.

At some point, there is something to help you even if your partner works full time. If you are truly unfit to work there are non means tested benefits - even if small- that would put you back into earning years for your state pension. You just need to see to someone for the ins and outs of it as I fear we here are not geting the whole truth of your situation.