Womans Pension

jem16

Your wife won't be paying the small stamp then.

Best thing to do would be to get a state pension forecast and see if she needs to make up some qualifying years for a full pension. Unfortunately this is not available at the moment and may not be for a year. However she has plenty of time.

Meanwhile find out more about the Tesco pension.

mrbnewc1

By my reckoning your wife might be entitled to more state pension than she thinks.

If she hasn't paid the reduced married woman's stamp (which is probable as you married in 1979), then she would qualify for Home Responsibilities Protection from 1980 to current (depending on whether she still receives Child Benefit for your youngest child). The fact that she earns some money makes no difference.

Now comes the good part. As part of the recent pensions bill, hmrc plan to convert full years of existing HRP (for those under pension age) into class 3 credits. The maximum that will be converted is 22 years. Each year that is converted will become a qualifying year for State Pension.

As the number of qualifying years needed to qualify for maximum state pension will change to 30, i would say taking into account the first 4 years before you married, your wife will currently have 26 out of the 30 years needed.

Obvously i don't know how much your wife earns in her part time job, so i don't know whether she will build up any further years from now. She'll possibly get another year this year if she's still getting child benefit.

Best thing to do is not panic or do anthing rash i.e. pay voluntary contributions, until she is able to get a full pension forecast from the pension service.

Cheers

Mrbnewc1

shug119

Thanks mrbnewc1, very helpfull.
Cheers Shug.:T