Entitled?

BigMank

Hi
My wife has worked for approximately 2 full years out of our 41 year marriage, we have 3 children, the youngest being 33. Will my wife be entitled to a full state pension.
On the other hand, my sister in law has worked all her life, (full time) has been married for 39 years, also has 3 children, the youngest being 27.
My sister in law asks if it is worth working all those years for a pension that could possibly be the same as someone who hasn’t bothered to work.
No one has a disability or is stopped from working.
Who is right, if anyone?
Thankyou

AnotherJoe

Your wife can look up /check her entitlement to a State Pension on a government website. AIUI she gets credits for the time that the children receive child benefit, or some period of that, maybe up to a certain age, I'm not sure?

As for "cant be bothered to work" I suspect your wife would consider she worked very hard looking after 3 kids, having had some child care time with a grandchild recently its certainly knackered me. 3 of them at one time, i'd be comatose end of the day.

Your SIL, I expect, worked for more than just the SP? eg she got additional income after childcare costs, she got an employers pension, and so on. If she didn't, if for example her earnings were totally subsumed by the child care costs, well then why did she do it? Maybe she enjoyed it more than childcare which is a pretty full-on job with little adult interaction.

Dazed_and_confused

No one can possibly know what they will get, particularly as you haven't told us their age or when they become eligible for any state pension entitlement.

You would be much better off getting them to log onto their personal tax accounts on gov.uk as this will show them their national insurance record and state pension entitlement.

They could have that done in a few minutes.

AnotherJoe

p.s Is your wife putting £2,880 into a pension every year to get the £720 top up? Nows a good day to start though yesterday would have been better.

Brynsam

BigMank wrote: »

Hi

My sister in law asks if it is worth working all those years for a pension that could possibly be the same as someone who hasn’t bothered to work.

Your SIL sounds pretty dim. Quite apart from dismissing a full-time parent as someone who 'hasn't bothered to work', she completely overlooks the fact that employment brings benefits other than a state pension at the end of it - for example a salary!

TcpnT

As the previous post mentioned it is very easy to get a state pension forecast online. Just google how to do it.
Your wife should have received NI credits for the years she was receiving child benefit and will also have credit for 3 years at age 15, 16, 17 and any years she was was working and not receiving child benefit. So it depends on how spread out you children were but She is unlikely to receive a full state pension. However assuming this is the case you do have the opportunity to buy extra post 2016 years credit at approx £750/year. This is a good deal.

Take a look at her forecast and come back.

xylophone

State Pension Forecast - your wife and your SIL can check their situation.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

zolablue25

Since 2010 the rules on receiving NI credit as a parent have changed. You now only get credit for the first 12 years of a childs life not 16 as previously.

Paul_Herring

BigMank wrote: »

My wife has worked for approximately 2 full years out of our 41 year marriage, we have 3 children, the youngest being 33. Will my wife be entitled to a full state pension.

After - personally - making a few assumptions, unlikely. But.

On the other hand, my sister in law has worked all her life, (full time) has been married for 39 years, also has 3 children, the youngest being 27.
My sister in law asks if it is worth working all those years for a pension that could possibly be the same as someone who hasn’t bothered to work.

How many of the remaining 39 years has your wife been raising kids (until they were 16? 12 now, but unlikely to apply in this case.)

Of the remainder, how many years has your wife been claiming JSA (or equivalent)?

Neither of those (nor most of the other things on that page I linked to) are considered as "not bothering to work," and do result in pension entitlement.


Simply sitting at home on the sofa being supported solely by her husband, not so much perhaps.

GunJack

zolablue25 wrote: »

Since 2010 the rules on receiving NI credit as a parent have changed. You now only get credit for the first 12 years of a childs life not 16 as previously.

dont think that'll be an issue if the kids are in their late 20's/early 30's

but yes, they have changed

zolablue25

GunJack wrote: »

dont think that'll be an issue if the kids are in their late 20's/early 30's

but yes, they have changed

No, I wasn't meaning for the OP, I posted just in case anyone else was reading this thread for whom the change would be relevant