Vent - My Mother (and her generation?)

mumps

ash28 wrote: »

You are right, the first state pension was introduced in 1908 for those age 70 or over, it was means tested and was 5/- a week.

In 1925 a contribution based pension was introduced, it was non means tested and payable from the age of 65.

The ages were changed for men and women in 1940 - 60 for women and 65 for men, that was to reflect the age difference between married couples as men were generally older than their wives and if they were claiming an enhanced pension because they had a wife they often had to wait several years to claim the "wife" element.

From 1948, men had to retire as well as reach 65 to claim the new Retirement Pension paid under the National Insurance scheme. If their wife was still under 60 when they reached 65 and retired they could claim an addition for her.

State pensions, in one form or another have been around over 100 years.

Yes its all coming back to me. I loved social policy, it was my favourite module.

merrydance

I think the worse thing this country did was the Right To Buy, all that housing stock lost. Also people appear better off now, mostly due to credit, although it was around in previous generations it was harder to obtain. I was surprised that my mother (who is 80) was entitled to a state pension, as she only worked a very short time before getting married, and could not have paid hardly any NI contributions, but as I understand it you get credits while receiving child benefit, and there were 5 of us.

margaretclare

I was surprised that my mother (who is 80) was entitled to a state pension, as she only worked a very short time before getting married, and could not have paid hardly any NI contributions, but as I understand it you get credits while receiving child benefit, and there were 5 of us.

Your mum is my age. What may have made a difference is if she never opted to pay the 'married women's reduced contribution'. If she didn't expect to work following her marriage then she may not have.

From April 1978 that option ceased to exist for any woman marrying after that date. What did change was that Home Responsibilities Protection came in and that, as you say, credited the NI contributions paid by someone staying at home to look after children.

Alternatively, there were women who chose to buy the weekly NI stamps themselves and stick them on their card. I don't know when that option ceased to exist. I know my mother did it because she was what was called a 'casual worker' i.e employed by different people to do a bit of cleaning but not on a regular basis. She retired age 60 in 1971 and had a full pension.

merrydance

No my mum didn't buy any NI stamps. When she inquired about her pension she was advised that she got her stamps paid as she was receiving child benefit.

missbiggles1

Sea_Shell wrote: »

If only we had a crystal ball to know how long our money had to last.

No good living the high life too early and then living to 100 and spend the last umpty years living on beans on toast. But similarly, no good having ££££ left when you die, having not had time/health to enjoy it.

I'm hoping to leave a note, "there's no money left"!!!

I'm hoping to leave a sign saying "I ain't dead".;)

(Will mean something to Terry Pratchett readers.)

missbiggles1

duchy wrote: »

You are looking at it from a Tory rather than a Socialist viewpoint and the generation you are talking about grew up as the first generation that were guaranteed a pension if their NI contributions were paid -unlike their parents many of whom had no pension.

Private pensions were for the salaried rather than the waged when they were young people starting work. Have attitudes changed since then ? Yes but to despise them as you do for growing put at a time when there was an expectation that your NI contributions were paying for a pension is just plain ignorance on your part.

I don't think that's really true. My dad was a postman and accepted earning a low wage because the job was secure and pensionable. That was true for many people working in basic and manual jobs in the public sector at that time. The sort of jobs that have been privatised since the Thatcher years, in fact.

missbiggles1

merrydance wrote: »

No my mum didn't buy any NI stamps. When she inquired about her pension she was advised that she got her stamps paid as she was receiving child benefit.

That's what I meant about NI credits rather than NI contributions.

You can get them when claiming various things like child benefit, carers allowance and JSA, which is why I said that many people claiming a full state pension have never contributed to the system.

merrydance

Yes that most be so, you get rewarded for never having worked? What a strange system.

margaretclare

merrydance wrote: »

No my mum didn't buy any NI stamps. When she inquired about her pension she was advised that she got her stamps paid as she was receiving child benefit.

Yes, so the Home Responsibilities Protection had kicked in.

If my first husband had survived long enough, he would have become eligible for a full retirement pension yet he'd never worked for the last 10-15 years of his life. He was on sickness benefit all that time.

NewShadow

merrydance wrote: »

Yes that most be so, you get rewarded for never having worked? What a strange system.

I know it may be controversial (as someone without kids), but I think there's a social and economic value to being a Stay Home Mum/Dad.

I don't think you should necessarily get working age benefits - If you're a couple you should budget and make do given it's a lifestyle choice, but if you have scrimped and saved to give the best home environment to your kids, I think this could reasonably be recognised by a state pension.