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demoralised

I started a self employed role for a finance company in February 1976, when I went to inform tax/ national insurance I was just asked are you married, ok sign here and here. I never had a reduction on class 4 national insurance, and paid the same rate as everyone else, male and female. I was oblivious to the need to pay class 2, which was only £2 a week when I retired, as I was never told or given an exception card. As I paid many thousands class 4 I presumed I would get a pension. It was only when I was sent a forecast 7 years before I was due to retire that I found out I wasn’t entitled to one. I immediately cancelled my election and paid that £2 a week which saw me retire with £42 a week. It is a no brainier that I would have paid the minuscule amount each week to ensure I had a full pension if I had had been told. I feel self employed married women have been very unfairly treated as we didn’t have the savings on insurance rates the employed had. It makes me very angry and feel conned as I never ask or was told I had a married women’s exception. It also meant I was unable to claim home responsibilities for bringing up my children, even though I only worked for 4 hours on a Saturday morning when they were small, so I could be there with them.

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Are you able to claim on your husband's contributions?

demoralised

Yes when he retired I could claim 60% of the basic old age pension, at the moment that is £78. However having worked all my life and never having claimed a penny in benefits, neither has my husband it feels unfair. We couldn’t even claim child benefit for our first child, and only ever received a very small payment compared to today. No child tax credits etc.