Married womans pension

Archergirl

I am married and have worked full time for over 30 years.
My husband is a pensioner, I (should) get my pension in 2016.
Will I get a full pension in my own right or will my husbands pension be lessened to take mine into consideration? I keep hearing conflicting comments.

Linton

Prior to 1977 women could opt to pay reduced NI and get a lower pension based on their husbands state pension. Since then women starting work have paid the same rate as men and been entitled to a full pension in their own right.

Assuming that your figure of 30 years is correct then you would seem to fall into the full pension group.

In either case you husbands pension is unaffected.

McKneff

As long as you have paid 30 years full stamp you will get a full state pension.

Changes are afoot to change this to 35 years so just as well to check with the DWP and while you are on with them, ask for a state pension forecast. And also if yu are entitled to any SP2 or Serps.

For those who have not paid enough NI (up to 60%) can claim from their OHs contributions.

Personally, I had only paid 50% contributions so claimed on my OHs and got 60% state pension.

margaretclare

Archergirl wrote: »

I am married and have worked full time for over 30 years.
My husband is a pensioner, I (should) get my pension in 2016.
Will I get a full pension in my own right or will my husbands pension be lessened to take mine into consideration? I keep hearing conflicting comments.

Yes, there's an awful lot of misinformation surrounding this topic.

Assuming you got married after April 1978 and/or never made the 'married women's option' to pay lower NI contributions, you will get full state retirement pension in your own right and this will neither affect, nor be affected by, whatever pension your husband gets.

To explain better, DH and I are both pensioners. We each get full state pension based on our own contributions. The fact that we're married to each other has nothing to do with it.

HTH

jamesd

Archergirl wrote: »

Will I get a full pension in my own right or will my husbands pension be lessened to take mine into consideration?

Men and women get their own pensions in their own right that do not affect the amount the other person gets.

But there is an exception to help women who may in the past have been relying on their husband's pension and who may have paid the lower married woman's stamp rate of national insurance. In that case they can use their husband's record to boost their own pension, without reducing the amount the husband gets. You can think of this as a married couple's pension, full for the husband, reduced rate (but better than her own calculated rate) for the woman. So long as one of them qualifies, both will get something even if that other one didn't pay in to the system at all.

Each woman gets the best of these two deals, their own if that's higher, the one using the husband's calculation if that's the higher one.

This also applies to civil partners and men who stayed at home with the wife working instead.

For 2012/13, if both have at least 30 qualifying years the basic state pension each will get is £107.45. If one has no record and the other has 30 years, one would get the full £107.45 and the other £64.40 for a total "couple's pension" of £171.85. Also, the one with the record may get some additional state pension based on their SERPS and S2P contributions.

Since you have 30 years in your own right you will get your own full state pension and your husband will get his or, if he doesn't have a full record, might be able to use your record if that produces a result higher than his own.

Each of you should really ask for a state pension statement to find out your current positions.

Archergirl

Thanks for that, I have in fact paid 39 years full stamp so I should be OK then. Hubby is already getting his, and I would in March if the bloody goverment hadn't changed the goalposts!!
Thanks for all the replys xx

kidmugsy

Archergirl wrote: »

Hubby is already getting his, and I would in March if the bloody goverment hadn't changed the goalposts!!

You do realise that it was the bloody government of 15 years ago, don't you?

Archergirl

Dosen't matter to me which one it was, just 'cos one stupid woman wanted to keep on working after 60.

margaretclare

Archergirl wrote: »

Dosen't matter to me which one it was, just 'cos one stupid woman wanted to keep on working after 60.

I think there was a lot more to it than that. After all, there has never been any law to prevent anyone from working for as long as he/she felt like it, assuming there was a job!

I agree with jamesd - good idea to get a pension forecast. You may be pleasantly surprised. Did you join any form of employer's pension scheme during those 39 years? If not, you may well be entitled to some SERPS/S2P on top of the basic because you weren't 'opted-out' into an employer's scheme.

To illustrate, DH was never 'opted-out' so the amount of SERPS he gets, on top of his basic state pension, is as much again as the basic.

Archergirl

I was in a works scheme and because I took redundancy I am taking my pension now. It was quite reduced as I took it at 55 which was 10 yrs early but I thought ' a bird in the hand'.....
I did contract out for a while and then went back in. I will be collecting the contracted out annuity in March when I am 60.

jackyann

Definitely get a pension forecast. With all the changes over the last 35 years, it was easy to get caught up in a scheme without totally realising the implications. Getting a forecast early can, in some circumstances, give you a chance to sort it out.