Married women and the Reduced Rate of NI

Beenie

Are you one of the ladies, married before 1977, and who paid the Married Womans Reduced Rate NI contribution?

The deal at the time was that you would pay roughly 60% of the full NI rate, and get roughly 60% of the state retirement pension as long as you were still married at pension age. I say 'roughly' because the actual pension would be based on your husband's NI conts. and could fluctuate depending on his contribution history.

You had to give up your right to unemployment, sickness and maternity benefits too. The MWRR was withdrawn in 1977, but as long as you stayed in employment and remained married, you were entitled to retain the reduced rate.

Those women are now in their late 50s/early 60s and retirement will be only a few years away.

I am one of them, but was shocked to find that the pension promise of 60% has been dropped.

I was expecting about £40 a week, which is much less than the current £113 basic pension, but was perplexed when the Pension Forecast from Newcastle said that my pension would now be only £2 a week. As I will draw my pension in 5/6 years, this leaves me no time to make other arrangements.

My complaint is that for over 38 years, the government was content to take my NI conts and all the while confirm in writing that my pension would be 60% of the standard state pension. Now, with only 5/6 years to go, the goalposts have been changed.

I've looked online and it seems that because there are only c.3000 women in this position, no-one takes any notice as our pressure group is too small to influence anyone.

I just wondered if anyone here either (a) is in the same position or (b) works for DWP and can offer advice, or hopefully tell me that I have misunderstood something.

Triumph13

Isn't there a 'safeguard amount' as discussed in pages 17 to 20 of this document or did it not get implemented/
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

jem16

Beenie wrote: »

I am one of them, but was shocked to find that the pension promise of 60% has been dropped.

To my knowledge there are transitional arrangements to protect people in your situation. Follow this through with your info.

https://www.gov.uk/reduced-national-insurance-married-women

I was expecting about £40 a week, which is much less than the current £113 basic pension, but was perplexed when the Pension Forecast from Newcastle said that my pension would now be only £2 a week.

I would hazard a guess that that estimate is based on solely your own NI contributions. Mine certainly did not take into account what I will inherit from my late husband as they didn't ask for his NI number. My forecast was simply based on my own contributions.

SnowMan

Follow this through beenie and you should see you are protected against the state pension changes in 2016.

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-through-partner

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181229/single-tier-pension.pdf Annex 3

34. The Government therefore intends to make provision for married women and widows who paid these reduced rate contributions. Where a valid election existed at any point in the 35 years before State Pension age, they will be able to access a single-tier pension based on their own
contributions to the point at which the single-tier pension is implemented.

This will include an amount equivalent to the full rate of the ‘married woman’s’ lower-rate basic pension or, if widowed or divorced, the full rate of the basic State Pension. If they would also qualify for a
single-tier pension based just on their own contributions, they will receive the higher of the two."


And in https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

on page 17.

Was the figure of £2 the only one which you were given?

Nothing was said about the transitional arrangements?

Beenie

£2 from memory, nothing said about transitional relief, but I will need to go find my pension folder to be sure.

Thank you all anyway for your useful links, it is all very reassuring.

jem16

Beenie wrote: »

£2 from memory, nothing said about transitional relief, but I will need to go find my pension folder to be sure.

The forecast doesn't mention the words "transitional relief" or even mention now "higher of the two."

It just gives an entitlement which is based on your own contributions. So that's where the £2 comes from.

When you asked for the forecast, did anyone ask for your husband's NI number? If they didn't then there is no way of knowing what your pension will be.

You may specifically need to ask them what your entitlement will be under the transition arrangements for women who paid Married Woman's Stamp.

jem16

xylophone wrote: »

Nothing was said about the transitional arrangements?

Mine didn't and I'm due to inherit some SERPS/S2P under transitional arrangements.

The form I filled in asked if I was single, married, widowed etc but never asked for any of my husband's details. previous statements that I've requested always asked for my husband's NI number so the future forecast is just pretty basic and purely based on your own entitlement.

Beenie

The last pension forecast I requested was a couple of years ago now.

I did it by completing a form and posting it off.

Do you think that I should ring Newcastle for an answer, or that it would be preferable to write a letter?

Completing the form again will give me the old (wrong) information.

jem16

Beenie wrote: »

The last pension forecast I requested was a couple of years ago now.

Ah right - that's not the one I was referring to that's now available to over 55s.

I did it by completing a form and posting it off.

Was there any mention of Married Woman's Stamp?

Do you think that I should ring Newcastle for an answer, or that it would be preferable to write a letter?

Completing the form again will give me the old (wrong) information.

The form, as it stands, will probably not be useful. You could phone and specifically ask about Married Woman's Stamp arrangements but I'm not confident you will get a good answer. You never know though.

It's the Future Pension Centre that's probably the best people to phone.

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

SnowMan

One of the issues is that if your husband reaches SPA after you do then you will only be entitled to the £2pw (or whatever) from when you reach your own SPA which will increase to £69.50pw ish from when your husband reaches his SPA.

So they can't really show the £69.50pw on your state pension statement as you would think that is payable from your own SPA. I'm not trying to justify the DWP's lack of proper information on your statement, but just showing there are a few issues with showing figures on a simple statement.

I would ring them up on 0345 3000 168 and explain you are looking for confirmation of what you can claim based on your husband's contributions, through having paid reduced rate contributions and see where it takes you.