Wife worried about no state pension

mrklaw

Hi,

My wife is worried that she'll have no state pension when she reaches retirement age,many will be entirely dependant on me, which she doesn't want to be in case something hapoens to me etc.

The different rules about voluntary contributions etc make my head spin so I'm looking for some help trying to get to grips with things. Here is a basic summary of things:

- my wife is a Japanese national but has lived here since 1996 and has residency.
- she worked for a couple of years before we had kids so has maybe 2 years NI contributions.
- since 2001 she has not worked, and has stayed at home to look after the kids (one born in 2001, another in 2004). She claims child benefit for the kids. I think this means she gets some form of NI contribution?
- due to my income, our child benefit was stopped when the rules changed. I don't know if this means her NI stamp would also have stopped - if so is there anything we can do?
-
From about now (or soon) she will start work again

I think she needs 30 years total Ni contributions for a full state pension, but how does that degrade if you have fewer years?

And I read something about her limited pension being topped up depending on my situation but I don't know how that works. Until this year I was in a contracted out final salary scheme, and from this year I will be in a contracted-in defined contribution group pension

Any help to get my head around the various permutations and what actions might be needed to sort things out would be hugely welcome

jem16

mrklaw wrote: »

- since 2001 she has not worked, and has stayed at home to look after the kids (one born in 2001, another in 2004). She claims child benefit for the kids. I think this means she gets some form of NI contribution?

She will get NI credits until the youngest is 12 years old. Up till 2010 she would have been getting Home Responsibilities Protection which would have been converted into NI credits at that point.

More info here;

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

- due to my income, our child benefit was stopped when the rules changed. I don't know if this means her NI stamp would also have stopped - if so is there anything we can do?

As she would only get credits for children up to age 12 which the younger one still entitles her to. She will still get her credits as long as she claims for them even if your income means you don't actually get any payment.

I think she needs 30 years total Ni contributions for a full state pension, but how does that degrade if you have fewer years?

You'll get a percentage of that. If she had 20 years, she would get 20/30ths.

If she starts work again soon, I would expect her to be able to build up enough as she will have around 16 years just now.

And I read something about her limited pension being topped up depending on my situation but I don't know how that works.

That won't happen after April 2016 so forget about that. Your wife will have to qualify under her own contributions.

TBagpuss

You/She can go here https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement to get a forecast of what she may be entitled to, and can then then make an informed decision about what to do. It may be that it would be sensible for her to look at setting up a private pension in any event, which would mean that she would have some independent income in retirement

ozzage

She'll get two "free" years for age 16/17, even though she wasn't living here then, as explained to me in the thread here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5133348

atush

yeah I go the free years too.

They should be in her forecast.

mrklaw

Thanks. Will she lose cover after we were stopped child benefit even though our kids are still under 12?

atush

Post 2. She may have to 'claim' them'

Have you thought of putting enough into pensions that your CB is restored? Would be higher rate tax contribs so costing you only 60 for each 100 into pension.

xylophone

Re new state pension

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview

mrklaw

That's what confused me in the first place!

Everything seems to link off to another page, which then links off to another, and another..

So it's 35 years contributions for a full new state pension? Best case my wife may have 2 years for 16/17, 2 years for working, and 14 years as a parent, so 18 years - needing a further 17 years for a full pension.

Interesting from that is that I probably won't qualify for the full one either, as I was contracted out until this year so my contributions were probably messed up

Is there a good site with a calculator? You should be able to tap your NI nunber in and get a result back

atush

Even if you are contracted out, you still have time to get more SP

jem16

mrklaw wrote: »

Interesting from that is that I probably won't qualify for the full one either, as I was contracted out until this year so my contributions were probably messed up

You may not qualify for the full single tier pension but you won't get any less than you would get under current rules. However you will probably be one of the lucky ones that gets the benefit of your contracted out pension plus the chance to add to your foundation amount to get to the full single tier pension.

Is there a good site with a calculator? You should be able to tap your NI nunber in and get a result back

No such site. The nearest you can get is to apply for a state pension forecast but unless you are currently over age 55 it will be based on the current rules.