State Pension

Bennifred

I think that the OP is under the impression that there is such a thing as a married person's (or married couple's) pension. Nowadays that is not the case - each person gets their own pension.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

dgethin wrote: »

So does that mean that I won't be a married man till my wife reaches pension age.

Only if you are unmarried and get married when she becomes a pensioner.

Otherwise you are still legally married to your wife irrespective of your ages.

Dunroamin

killerkev wrote: »

Yes we don't know what his wife's record is she might even have worked full time at some point in her life!!
He should get a pension forecast for her!

Much better if she does it herself!

xylophone

See http://www.direct.gov.uk/dr_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@over50/documents/digitalasset/dg_180220.pdf

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Global/Age-Cymru/Factsheets%20and%20information%20guides/FS19%20State%20Pension%20December%202012.pdf?dtrk=true
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

seven-day-weekend

You will get your own Pension.

When your wife is the correct age, she will get her Pension.

She doesn't get anything yet because she is not old enough.

If she has not got enough NI she will have to claim a 60% pension based on your contributions, but only when she is old enough to do so. Your Pension will remain the same.

p00hsticks

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

You will get your own Pension.

When your wife is the correct age, she will get her Pension.

She doesn't get anything yet because she is not old enough.

If she has not got enough NI she will have to claim a 60% pension based on your contributions, but only when she is old enough to do so. Your Pension will remain the same.

I think the OP needs to look into this a bit more - at least if his wife isn't due to reach state retirement age until after April 2016, when the proposed changes are due to take effect. (If she's 60 now, she could fall either side of the changes - check her state retirement age here https://www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension)

I haven't been following the details, but I'm aware that there has been some discussion about the fact that the proposed changes to the State Pension that are due to come in in 2016 completely do away with the idea of one part of a married couple claiming a pension based on their spouses contributions.

I know there are some transitional rules to ensure that people close to retirement aren't worse off, but this is one situation that has I think caused a lot of concern.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks, I assumed the OP's wife was 61, but she might still be 60.

I agree that it would be best if she got a Pension Forecast for herself.

xylophone

I haven't been following the details, but I'm aware that there has been some discussion about the fact that the proposed changes to the State Pension that are due to come in in 2016 completely do away with the idea of one part of a married couple claiming a pension based on their spouses contributions.

Transitional Arrangements where one spouse reaches SPA in the current system
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf page 8.

Note Single Tier to be introduced from 2016.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/pensions/what-the-new-state-pension-reforms-mean-for-you/

oldboy64

dgethin wrote: »

I recceived my state pension details to day (I'll be 65 in September) and was surprised that the figure quoted was £116.75 per week. I'm a married man and my wife works part time. She is four year's younger than me and hasn't paid any National |Insurance since 1979. Upon investigation I found that my pension is only £6pw more than a single persons' state pension. This can't be right....can it?

£116.75 a week???? Most people that I know have a State Pension of in excess of £170 a week. Your State Pension is made up of two parts. The basic amount - £110 a week plus an additional pension based on what you have paid in during your lifetime in NIC's. In my case I get an extra £66 a week because of the amount that I paid in.

To only get an extra £6 must mean that you haven't paid in much in over the past 49 years.

In addition to this a wife can either have her own pension based on what she has paid in and worked or 60% of the basic pension paid to you. In this case once you have reached 65 and started to draw your State Pension she can have hers as long as she is old enough - she would get approx. £66 a week.

So by the time you both retire you will have a combined State Pension of £182 a week.

But never mind, this would be topped up to £222 a week via Pension Credit.

Put it this way neither of you have needed to work at all in your lifetime, you could have not paid any stamps yet you will be guaranteed a minimum of £222 a week for nothing! It annoys those that have worked hard and paid in every year only to find that they are no better off than those that have never done a days work in their lives.

margaretclare

This comes from the government document quoted on another thread (in the Pensions forum):

"A key aspect of the proposals is that the single-tier pension should be based on individual qualification, without the facility to inherit or derive entitlement to the State Pension from a spouse or civil partner."

The OP is living in the past. There is no married couple's pension and whatever vestige of this outdated idea exists at present will have gone under the new provisions.

If the OP's wife paid NI until 1979 there is the hope that she didn't opt for the infamous 'married women's lower contribution' which was withdrawn for a woman who married from April 1978 onwards. If she was at home looking after children and receiving Child Benefit she would qualify for Home Responsibilities Protection. So, hopefully, she will qualify for SRP in her own right, but only when she - not her husband - reaches retirement age.