Spouse NI credits towards pension while overseas?

br1anstorm

I am a former UK civil servant, now retired. I worked overseas for a significant part of my career (some 18 out of 33 years) but throughout was regarded as UK resident, paid in sterling and taxed in the UK. I have a full NI contributions record, which I believe entitles me to a full state pension from age 65.

My question relates to my wife (born in 1951). She has only a few years' of NI contributions - from limited periods of employment in UK. For the 18 years accompanying me overseas on government service, she had no earnings and paid no NI contributions. She has reached her state-retirement age (in 2013) but has had no communication from the Pensions Service. We are now seeking a statement of her NI record. Can any forum reader with detailed knowledge of the NI and pensions rules advise on any of the following:

i) does she qualify for NI credit for any/all of the years spent as an accompanying spouse overseas - on the same basis as, we understand, the spouses of members of the UK armed forces assigned overseas? If so, how should she claim this?
ii) does she - or would she have - qualified for Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) for any or all of those years? Is this explicitly linked to having children or receiving Child Allowance (we have none/did not)? Again, how would she claim?
iii) depending on the answers to either or both of those questions, can she now make any voluntary NI contributions to "buy" additional years of NI credit and thus increase her state pension - and if so, for how many years?
iv) independently from her own NI record and the queries above, would she be eligible for state pension on the basis of my (her husband's) NI record?

Any information or advice would be welcome.

xylophone

When do you expect to become eligible for your own state pension (before or after 6/4/16)?

cte1111

ii) Yes you need to be receiving Child Benefit or Carer's Allowance to receive Home Responsibilities protection. It's recently changed to only apply to CB for children under 12 and CA.

The best idea is for your wife to ask for a pension forecast:
https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

She can then decide whether to make contributions for additional years. Here's some information about topping up, that should apply to your wife:
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-topup

xylophone

If you become eligible for your state pension before 6/4/16 see
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS19_State_Pension_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

page 8 concerning category B pension.

If on or after 6/4/16 see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

JezR

Spouses / civil partners of Armed Forces members have only received an NI credit since 2010. The documents concerned with its introduction makes no reference to other civil or crown servants.

br1anstorm

Thanks to all for replies. I qualify for my state pension in early 2015 (ie before the change in rules).

The situation regarding my wife seems to be almost a Catch-22 - or at least somewhat complicated. It seems she can't get a pension forecast, because - having had no notification from the Pensions Service before or at the time - she has already passed the date (May 2013) on which she should have started getting her state pension, or at least been eligible for it. The Pension Service have now advised, in answer to a phone call, that she would have to claim her pension in order to know what she qualified for (which seems a bit back-to-front!).

I have looked at various guidance leaflets and websites, but haven't yet cracked it. It seems that we need to clarify three things:

a) first, the basic facts: what is her current NI record - ie how many years contribs has she already got?

b) depending on that, can she - at this stage - "buy" additional years at the voluntary rate to boost her pension?

c) If she is allowed to, should she do so? Or not bother because she will qualify for a pension in any case on the back of my (full, 42 years) NI contribs record?

d) however, if she qualifies on the basis of my NI record for a "spouse-pension" at less than the full rate, can she top that up on the basis of her own NI record (either as it stands or with the purchase of some added years)?

That seems to me the logical way to approach things. I'm puzzled as to why (because she is already past her designated state retirement age) she has to claim her pension before the DWP will tell her the answers to these questions.

JezR

Based on your contributions she will get a category B pension, equivalent to 60% of the full basic pension when you reach retirement age.

Your wife should have claimed her pension on her own contributions when she reached retirement age. Currently the de minimus level is only one year of contributions for a 1/30 pension. This could then be deferred if you didn't need it. As it wasn't claimed, it will be treated as deferred.

Your wife's contributions do not top up the category B pension but would replace it if they resulted in a bigger pension. So she would need more than 18 years of contributions before her category A pension would be worth more.

mgdavid

br1anstorm wrote: »

........
a) first, the basic facts: what is her current NI record - ie how many years contribs has she already got?.........

you can do that here:
https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

As whatever state pension due to her has been deferred by virtue of not claiming it, do note that it is being increased by 10.4% per annum. So some good will come out of this, it's a very generous uplift!

jamesd

She can contact the claims people and tell them that initially she only wants a statement of her entitlement and how many years counted.

She may have the option to buy many more years of past contributions.. Potentially for all years from 2006, up to 7 years in her case, depending on her exact age. Seek confirmation that the deferral boost will apply to purchased years, I think it will, but verify.

The question will be whether that plus the gain for deferring takes her above the value of 60% of what your record would entitle her to. No way to know that without more details of her record. Of course the gain over the 60% would need to be sufficient to justify the cost of getting there.

br1anstorm

Thanks to all three posters above for replies. First, to JezR for explaining the difference between Cat B pension (60% of mine) vs Cat A (her own, which would only be greater if she had paid more than 18 yrs NI).

mgdavid - thanks, we have just submitted an online request for her NI record, which will set the baseline for any other choices or decisions.

That will help us to answer jamesd's point - whether it will be worth her paying additional voluntary contribs. Seems it will only be worth doing so if it boosts her own (Cat A) pension entitlement to a greater amount than the 60% she gets as a Cat B pension on the back of my NI record.

A quick scan of the DWP guidance seems to suggest that (a) she may have scope anyway to make up the last 6 years of NI on a voluntary basis, and that (b) she may be able to buy more years to fill gaps since 1975, but only if she already has 20 years of contributions. Our suspicion is however that (not having got any NI credits for Child Benefit or HRP - which we did not receive as we were abroad with no kids/dependents) her actual years of UK employment and normal NI contribs may only add up to less than 10. If that turns out to be so, then I suspect there is no way she can make up enough to deliver a pension greater than the 60% Cat B amount derived from my NI record. But we'll have to see when the statement of her NI record comes through.

Watch this space!

JezR

There is another thing that could be done to boost her own pension and that would be to pay category 3a voluntary contributions. These could top up a category B pension by up to £25 a week when available in 2015.

They will work out significantly more expensive than what she would have received with a regular contribution had this been made in the past, but may still be worth considering if in good health. Details at: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-topup