how to check if mothers pension amount is correct

devonsaver1

Hi my dad has asked me to look into my mothers state pension she has receiving it now for about 8 years and only gets about 98 pounds a month.. which seems very low. She did take time off work to bring up us kids but did also work a quite a few years in this country and another. Now my dad is retired also.. their joint income is very low. So I just wanted to check if her pension is correct. If someone could help / advise me how to find out and what information I would need that would be great as a 23 year old I dont know much about state pension or where to start to get information thank you in advance and also my mum doesn't remember all the places shes worked etc

patanne

There are a couple of things you can do. Ask your Mum if she ever paid only the married woman's "stamp". If she did, those years don't count towards her pension. You can get the records they have, or she can, which list all the places she has worked. If she didn't pay married woman's stamp then the years claiming child benefit will count. That is as long as it was paid to her and not to your Dad. You cannot really help much here apart from writing letters - your Mum could ring herself & ask them for her payment history but they will not speak to you about it, unless your Mum hands the phone over to you that is.

I have to add though that this is not an area where they normally make mistakes although they do happen with a name change or an error at some point in the NI no.

seven-day-weekend

You will probably find that she paid the Married Women's stamp (NI)for most of her working life, but if she did this will not count for any pension. Neither will the Child Benefit years count as this was only for people who paid full stamp.

Your parents might be entitled to Pension Credit ( a means-tested top-up to bring their income up to a minimum of £226 a week). Have a look here:

https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/overview

anmarj

If your dad is of state pension age, then if your mum's basic pension is less than 60% a top against your fathers contributions could apply. This should of been done automatically if he was state pension age after 2008. Your mum can call the pension service and they can check

jamesd

Best to visit your local Citizens Advice for a check of income and benefits. It appears that they are likely to qualify for some benefits if the income is right and CAB is great at sorting that sort of thing out.

She can ask for a Statement of National Insurance Contributions to see which years have counted for her state pension entitlement and check whether the contributions for each year seem to fit when she was working.

She worked in another country but which one and is she receiving a pension from that country? Many countries, particularly in Europe, but some others, could pay a pension to her. Be sure that you mention this to the CAB. The DWP International Pension Centre may be able to provide some quick guidance and they have a page there that provides contact information for a range of countries.

She might have a work pension from some of the past jobs. To find that she should use the free government Pension Tracing Service. Before doing that it would be worth calling the HMRC Contracted Out Helpline to get details of which firms received her payments for any time when she was contracted out of the additional state pension. That would include many work pensions so it can be a quick way to find out about those.

A fair bit of checking and tracing work to do but nothing that's too bad.

margaretclare

It would be helpful to know:

1. How old is your Mum now?

2. When did she get married?

3. As has been said, did she ever make the 'married women's election' as it was called. This was no longer a possibility for any woman who married after April 1978. As you are only 23, i.e. born in the early 1990s it is quite possible that she did not make this choice.

xylophone

Only £98 a month?- you are sure that this is not £98 a week?

Even if your mother did make the "married women's election", assuming that your father is receiving a full state pension, she should be eligible for a pension equal to 2/3 of the basic state pension?