state pension

hondavfr57

My wife (54) has never worked, how can I get her some sort of state pension?
I am receiving a state pension.

Torry_Quine

hondavfr57 wrote: »

My wife (54) has never worked, how can I get her some sort of state pension?
I am receiving a state pension.

If she has received child benefit then that will have given her NI credits towards her state pension as will JSA, IB, ESA etc. If she has no entitlement then she will get 60% when she reaches pension age from your contributions. If your pension is the only income you could be entitled to pension credit.

zagfles

Presumably she's claimed child benefit, in which case she'll get credits, also stuff like time spent as a carer, seeking work (if registered) etc get credits even if unable to claim JSA. So you'll probably find she has credits even if she's never "worked", ie had paid employment. Suggest she gets a state pension estimate.

She can also get a partial state pension based on your contributions, though under the new scheme they are phasing it out, but there will be transitional protection though can't remember the details, the documents are here http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/pensions-reform/state-pension/

bigfreddiel

zagfles wrote: »

Presumably she's claimed child benefit,

presumes she's had children - you can't know that

fj

jamesd

She should start out by getting a State Pension Statement. That will tell her how many years she so far has counting towards a state pension in her own name.

To add to that she will be able to buy credits for each year from now until she reaches state pension age. That will give her the opportunity to add at least 12 more years. The statement may also tell her that she can buy some past years. The cheapest years to buy are likely to be the most recent ones and the ones from now through 2016, so she might usefully start by buying those past years if the money is available. The final target for her is 35 years in her own name.

From 2017 the cost of buying extra years is likely to increase because of the proposed flat rate cut in state pensions for employees, so she'll probably be best off getting years before then. She'll probably be one of the people who benefits greatly from this plan.

Once the number of years she has now is known, that can be compared with the amount she might get using your record instead of hers. If she really has no years at all other than three Juvenile Credit years there's a chance that it won't be worth her buying years. If she was receiving Child Benefit she can probably get a full basic or flat rate pension in her own name and that would be her best option, if you can afford the cost of buying the years it takes.

A woman of her age with one child would often get to 19 or more years on her own record courtesy of the Juvenile Credits and Child Benefit even if she had never worked. That would leave just 15 or 16 years to buy to get a full flat rate state pension in her own name. If there were more children to increase the number of years on Child Benefit that would also increase the number of state pension years. A woman with four children two years apart could have 25 years already even without ever having worked.

We could comment more once we know what her State Pension Statement says and whether she got credits for claiming Child Benefit.

zagfles

bigfreddiel wrote: »

presumes she's had children - you can't know that

fj

Indeed not but by far the main reason for women not working is they're bringing up children, or being a carer, both of which get NI credits. Can even get credits for seeking work, people can sign on for credits even if they can't get JSA. And I think some disability benefits get NI credits, so the vast majority of reasons for not working are covered by NI credits.