Dreaded Married womens stamp....

evie451

I am trying to help out my mother in law after she was widowed on the 2nd January. Sadly along with a large number of other folk not an enormous amount of thought has gone into retirement planning.

She paid the dreaded Married womens stamp it would appear for a large part of her working life and although she was able to claim the 60% of her husbands pension what happens now she is widowed? she will have a 6/7 years prior to marriage and perhaps a few later on but will she still be entitled to the 60% now she is a widow?

I did look at the website and it just said she might get something for his years but no other indications......

She is dreading a sharp drop in income.....

xylophone

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_older_people_ew/benefits_for_people_over_sixty.htm

p00hsticks

She'll need to get in touch with the Pension Service to find out exactly what she's entitled to ...

https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-centre

margaretclare

She can have the 100% that he was getting but not the 60% as well.

In addition, if he had SERPS/S2P she may be able to inherit that, depending on which year he and she were born. http://www.rights4seniors.net/content/inheriting-asp

evie451

Trouble is she is putting off contacting them afraid of more bad news I am trying to get her to call them but its uphill at such a difficult time......Having read some more articles its not looking good, I think she is going to go from a joint pension of his full basic plus the 60% for her to just the 60%....

Sorry if its a broken record but the whole scheme was such a bad idea! some of the things I have read seemed to suggest that a lot of women werent even asked if they wanted to go on the scheme the employer just did it because it was cheaper.......

margaretclare

evie451 wrote: »

Trouble is she is putting off contacting them afraid of more bad news I am trying to get her to call them but its uphill at such a difficult time......Having read some more articles its not looking good, I think she is going to go from a joint pension of his full basic plus the 60% for her to just the 60%....

Sorry if its a broken record but the whole scheme was such a bad idea! some of the things I have read seemed to suggest that a lot of women werent even asked if they wanted to go on the scheme the employer just did it because it was cheaper.......

It was an appalling idea! Absolutely appalling. It's all history now, because women who got married after April 1978 did not have this 'option', but as you illustrate in your MIL's case, there are still women coming through now who fell victim. I was in the Women's Movement throughout those years, especially in the 1970s and, although it can't apply to any woman getting married after that date, those who'd already made that choice were allowed to continue. Too much of a political hot potato to say to everyone 'no, you've all got to pay full stamp from now on'. The squeals and protests that are going on now about changes would have been nothing to the storm that there would have been.

It all goes back to the 1948 National Insurance Act, which was based on the 1942 Beveridge Report, the blueprint for the post-war welfare state. Basically a woman wasn't meant to need a pension in her own right, she could get part of what her husband got and the 2 of them would get 160% rather than 100% each. 'She has other duties' Beveridge wrote, 'replenish the race'. Stay at home and have kids! Trouble was, women had got used to having their own money, doing valuable and needed work in the war years, so a lot of women continued to go to work even if only part-time.

It's also worth remembering that some women liked it. They preferred having 'money in their hand' now, rather than putting it towards their retirement. Some didn't see their job as serious, thought that the husband as 'breadwinner' should do all that.

I used to get laughed at a lot by women I worked with, who thought I was bonkers to pay full stamp and also to pay into the work pension scheme. I know for a fact that those women aren't laughing now.

I think she is going to go from a joint pension of his full basic plus the 60% for her to just the 60%.

No, I'm certain that she'll get his 100%. Do look into the SERPS thing as well.

tanith

Did he have any other pension? a company one for instance? she may be entitled to a payment from that if he had one depending on the t & c of course.

atush

And with only her, her costs should be a bit lower. I am sure Margaret is right, she will get one Full basic SP, not her old 60%.

But if there is no other income, she should get some sort of other things like pension credit etc. I would go with her to ageUK, CAB etc.

Or to the benefits board here.

evie451

thank you so much MargaretClare! I heard of the infamous 'small stamp' years ago when my first husbands father died and it caused his mum some problems although that was years ago and I didnt understand it then.....I foolishly thought that it must be a bit like me and my occupational final salary scheme when I was working part time and my children were small I got 'part years' in the scheme I didnt for a second think it got you no pension entitlement!

I asked my own mother about her pension after all this and she seems to have been one of the lucky ones and did, like you, pay the big stamp......

Tanith also thank you, he had 2/3 small occupational pensions but this is another thing to get sorted out, to find out what the widows provision is.......:(

evie451

atush wrote: »

And with only her, her costs should be a bit lower. I am sure Margaret is right, she will get one Full basic SP, not her old 60%.

But if there is no other income, she should get some sort of other things like pension credit etc. I would go with her to ageUK, CAB etc.

Or to the benefits board here.

thanks Atush I am feeling a bit better about reassuring her now, the costs arent going to go down much I dont think, the car is old and is in constant need of repair it seems the house is high for council tax and heating so I feel some difficult choices ahead....

xylophone

house is high for council tax and heating so I feel some difficult choices ahead...

.
Have you looked at the link in 2 above? Has the local council a benefits Adviser?

Is she entitled to HB or CTC? She won't know unless she asks! http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/claiming-benefits/