Married woman National Insurance Contributions.

chrislee765

Hi,
I am seeking some advice on Married Womans national insurance contributions.

A friend is being made redundant at 59. She has always paid married womans national insurance contributions. Her husband is 59 and has full contributions.
She is wondering if she is able to use her redundancy money to topup these contributions to a full contribution, increasing her state pension.

I have had a look at gov.uk and HMRC but it doesn't seem to be clear.

Can anyone please advise?
Many Thanks.

margaretclare

She could change from the option she made to pay reduced rate, opt to pay full contributions. Anyone can do this at any time. As she is being made redundant presumably she will be signing on at the JobCentre, claiming ESA, and this carries with it a credit for NI contributions.

I don't know what she can do retrospectively, though.

xylophone

She has always paid married womans national insurance contributions. Her husband is 59 and has full contributions.
She is wondering if she is able to use her redundancy money to topup these contributions to a full contribution, increasing her state pension.

http://www.savvywoman.co.uk/c7-pages/c7s1.php?art_id=808
When can’t you pay
"Not everyone can make additional National Insurance contributions. The most common situation when you can’t (which I get asked about a lot) is if you’ve paid the married women’s stamp (reduced rate National Insurance). For each tax year you’ve paid that, you’re not able to make voluntary contributions."