Did Not Qualify for Full State Pension

Deborah.Barclay

HI all,
I am writing on behalf of my mum (born 1941) in the hope someone can offer help and advice.
My parents moved to Spain when they retired in 2005 and all was well until my dad died in 2008.
Unbeknown to my mum because they never married she was not entitled to any of his pension when he died even though they cohabited for over 40 years.
She receives a reduced pension of £80pw due to not completing the 35 qualifying years required.
She only completed 14years complete and 19years part. This was due to several reasons listed below of which I’m hoping there could be a chance of an appeal to gain some extra qualifying years to increase her weekly payments.
REASONS WHY UNABLE TO COMPLETE 35 QUALIFYING YEARS
1 - For 3 years after leaving school she had to look after her 5yr old sister as her mum was in full time employment
2 - She did a 5 year apprenticeship in a hair dressers that never paid her NI or tax
3 - She had me in 1964 and was a full time mum/homemaker
3 - She and my dad as a couple became relief managers in pubs but they were only paid as one and my dad was the registered earner then had a lease pub and my dad managed the finances but wasn’t advised to pay my mums stamp.
4 - my mum became very ill from 1975 with ulcerated colitis and had many days, weeks in hospital or sometimes months when she was unable to work and because they were self employed in the pubs didn’t even think to apply for any benefits.

So now my mum is struggling to live.

Would be grateful if anyone can offer any advice

THANKS IN ADVANCE

sheramber

Is our mother still living in Spain?

p00hsticks

If born in 1941, your mother would have reached State Pension Age in 2001, when she was 60. Unfortunately back then women needed 39 NI years to qualify for a full state pension (men were worse off ,as their state pension age was 65 and they needed 44 years).

I'm not sure what the precursor to child benefit was (family allowance ? ) but if it was in her name this may have earned her NI credits - but this could well be the 14 years she has.

Unfortunately she is now well out of time to make voluntary payments for the part years she has, which would have given her a higher pension, and it'll also be far too late now to retrspectively address some of the other reasons why she missed out.

I'm assuming she still lives in Spain and is not therefore eligible for Pension Credit.

Flugelhorn

I think family allowance was only paid for second and subsequent children until sometime in the mid seventies when mothers starting getting it for first

DairyQueen

I read your post with sadness.

Unfortunately, your mum is the victim of an era in which attitudes to gender were very different from contemporary experience. Many women of her generation had little or no pension provision of their own. Many women also paid the reduced NI rate then available to married women. As a result they have little state pension. There was no NI credit available for family carers until relatively recently and the rules on child benefit were different then.

Many self-employed people fail to pay NI and it would seem that your mum's work was never acknowledged in the pub accounts nor in the tax/NI system. She was effectively working off-the-books and that carries a penalty which nobody made her aware of at the time.

Women were considered under the 'protection' of men and, therefore, married women, at least, could expect a dependent's pension from the state and from their husband's company pension (if applicable).

The biggest oversight has been your parents decision not to marry as your mum is not entitled to claim a basic state pension based on your dad's NI contributions. Nor is she entitled to any of his 'SERPS' (second state pension). She is time-barred from making voluntary NI contributions to boost her own pension.

If your dad had any company pensions then it's possible that the trustees will consider the possibility of paying a dependant's pension to your mum. This is definitely worth investigating.

Does your mum have any other assets: savings? house? Is she a beneficiary of your dad's will?

If she is a Spanish resident then is she entitled to any support from the Spanish taxpayer?

If she has little in savings and returns to the UK she will be able to claim pension credit. This will top-up her pension to the minimum that the UK government considers it viable to live-on (currently around £163p.w.). She would then be entitled to other benefits such as help with rent and council tax.

It sounds very trite (sorry) but your mum is paying a very big cost for your parents' failure to plan.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

McKneff

Just to add if your mum had been able to claim pension on your dads pension contributions it would have only been at the most 60% of it.

I am one of the women caught in the married womans stamp disaster because it wasnt explained to me when i was 18 and just married that it made a big difference to future benefits. My own contributions would only give me 50% state pension but claiming from hubbys gave me 60.
I feel robbed that i have received only 60% for the past 9 years. Itsa lot to have lost

drumtochty

[FONT=&quot]I remember in the mid sixties my mother took an evening job in a factory packing bottles into boxes off a production line. One day a lady from the factory that worked full at the factory stopped for a chat.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The lady said that one of the young full time ladies in her early twenties had just returned from getting married. She then told my mother that "we" (all the older ladies on that shift) told the younger lady, who just got married to go into the wages office and get them to change her NI contribution in those days "the stamp" to the "married woman’s" stamp.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There was "no good reason to waste money" on the more expensive "single persons stamp".[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I was say 12 at the time and considered even at that age, that there may be more to this "stamp" business than meets the eye. I have now come across similar cases where couples have got divorced in their late 40's and 10 to 15 years later the lady finds her pension has taken a big hit.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I consider that while the government was not doing it's best in this case, the majority of working people in the 60's were all for a reduced nation insurance deduction from their wages and would criticise people behind their back for paying the "big stamp".[/FONT]

DairyQueen

drumtochty wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]I the majority of working people in the 60's were all for a reduced nation insurance deduction from their wages and would criticise people behind their back for paying the "big stamp".[/FONT]

That's because nobody explained the implications. People (and the government) of that generation just assumed that a couple's pension provision was based on the husband's contribution. My mother worked full-time for 37 years until she was struck by MS in her early 50s. She has no pension of her own at all. When I asked my dad why they didn't consider pension provision for mum, his response was: "it never occurred to us".

Different times.

Unfortunately for the OP her parents weren't married so this lady doesn't even have the protection afforded by the legacy of gender distinction that reigned back in the day. She has my sympathy as it seems that this couple sleep-walked into a disastrous financial situation for the OP's mum.

Bottom line: s/he who pays receives the benefit. Don't ever rely on someone else (spouse/taxpayer) to provide for you. The system now runs on that premise and young women of today ignore it at their peril.

xylophone

If she has little in savings and returns to the UK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5943932/father-has-failed-the-habitual-residence-test-twice

There will be hoops to jump through...

tacpot12

Are you able to send her any money? Could you take in a lodger and use the extra money to support her? You can take in lodger and earn up to £7500 per year without paying any tax.

Does she own any property in Spain? Doing so might mean she will fail the Habitual Residence Test for benefits, so she might need to sell the property before returning to the UK. She would then need to buy another property in the UK within six months or she would lose much of the pension credit she might otherwise receive.

Could you support her if she returned to the UK for long enough to be able to claim benefits? It might take four months before any benefits were paid to her, and that assumes that there are no problems with her claim.

Could she move in with you if she returned to the UK?

Have you compared the cost of living in the UK vs. the cost of living in Spain? Council Tax, Utility Bills and other costs her might make it easier for her to live in Spain than to live in the UK with state help.

Deborah.Barclay

Yes shill still lives in Spain