Pension query, please!

DAKOTA45

Hello... I wonder if anyone could answer a question for me, please?

I understand that the weekly state pension for someone with full contributions is somewhere around £150 or thereabouts...


My husband, who retired a couple of years ago gets £190 SP, and whilst I'm very happy for him, I wonder if some of this is meant to go into MY bank account, as my SP is only around £78 per week, (due to me working only part time whilst we were bringing up a family).

I find it rather demeaning having to ask him for money when I need things, but if I don't ask, I don't get, and then only grudgingly!!

Any comments would be very welcome. Thanks, Dakota45

Tom99

When was your £78pw paid from?
If you were claiming child benefit you would have a full years credit until the youngest was age 12 (or maybe age 16, not sure when it changed)

lisyloo

No your pensions are individual and based on your own NAtional insurance payments.
You would have had credit for the years when looking after the children so something else is amiss.

We’re there other years that you didn’t pay NI before or after the children were grown up?

Mnd

I don't get this that it is his mine money, and you've got to grudgingly ask.

You're a married couple. If you go for a meal do you have a sandwich whilst he has a 22oz steak.

Holiday time, are you self catering and he goes AI.

I think you should lump it all together and live as a partnership.

I do realise other people work differently, but that's how we manage.

Still worth checking up on your figures though

xylophone

When exactly did your husband reach state pension age?

Are you claiming a Cat B state pension on your husband's contributions?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs19_state_pension_fcs.pdf

atush

The pension is his.

But you really shouldnt have to ask for money, you should have a joint account. Even if you keep your single ones.

Silvertabby

Has he always been this stingy with money? In our world, there is no such thing as 'his pension' and 'my pension' - they are our pensions, and are paid into our joint account.

DairyQueen

DAKOTA45 wrote: »

Hello... I wonder if anyone could answer a question for me, please?

I understand that the weekly state pension for someone with full contributions is somewhere around £150 or thereabouts...


My husband, who retired a couple of years ago gets £190 SP, and whilst I'm very happy for him, I wonder if some of this is meant to go into MY bank account, as my SP is only around £78 per week, (due to me working only part time whilst we were bringing up a family).

I find it rather demeaning having to ask him for money when I need things, but if I don't ask, I don't get, and then only grudgingly!!

Any comments would be very welcome. Thanks, Dakota45

The full basic state pension, for those reaching state pension age prior to the change in rules in April 2016, is currently £129.20 per week. The maximum basic for those reaching state pension age after that is currently £168.60.

However, currently people are either receiving their SP under the old rules or are in transition, and state pension amounts vary hugely. Your husband's SP suggests that he has been contracted-in to the state second pension (now ended) during his working life. This variable amount is paid in addition to the individual's entitlement to the basic pension.

All of his state pension is the result of his working history. He receives nothing on your behalf.

I am speculating but your SP looks very like the value paid to married women who opted to pay reduced NI before the option to do so was abolished in the late 70s (aka 'married woman's stamp'). If this applies to you, then you never earned any SP in your own right as you never paid the extra NI required to earn it. Instead, you receive a reduced SP based on your husband's NI contributions.

This is the legacy of a paternalistic society that assumed married women were taken care of by their husbands.

Without wishing to offend, it would appear that your husband still adheres to those paternalistic notions of yesteryear. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to increase your own pension. However, perhaps a frank discussion with him on the merits of equality and fairness may help.

His SP is so much higher than yours because your income was compromised by being the carer of his and your children. Presumably he ate the meals you cooked, wore the shirts you ironed and lived in the house you cleaned. Your contribution to your partnership is equal to his and you should have equal access to the financial fruits of that partnership.

Btw, you are not alone. Every married woman in my family aged over 70 was/is equally reliant on their spouse's pension, and for the same reasons: low pay due to childcare; non-pensionable, part-time earnings; and sacrificing a decent state pension in order to contribute a few extra pounds each week to a tight, household budget.

lisyloo

DairyQueen wrote: »

This is the legacy of a paternalistic society that assumed married women were taken care of by their husbands.

I find this a bit rich, when it was a chosen option to pay less in.
If it’s a true comment on the system then those women colluded with it for many years and kept the profits.

I appreciate we don’t know if that’s true in this particular case.

badmemory

I do think we should remember however that there were many employers whose attitude was - well you're married now we assume you will want to pay the married woman's stamp. Followed by the - well yes I am married & it would be nice to have a little more cash. I believe there were some who were never even asked! Unlike the 20 years later increase to SPA the implications were rarely spelt out.


Thankfully my employer at that point was made of sterner stuff & said although you can it is probably a bad idea.

DairyQueen

badmemory wrote: »

I do think we should remember however that there were many employers whose attitude was - well you're married now we assume you will want to pay the married woman's stamp. Followed by the - well yes I am married & it would be nice to have a little more cash. I believe there were some who were never even asked! Unlike the 20 years later increase to SPA the implications were rarely spelt out.


Thankfully my employer at that point was made of sterner stuff & said although you can it is probably a bad idea.

I agree. I don't think many women of my mum's generation understood the implications. The reduced NI contribution appears to have been viewed as a kind of 'married woman's benefit'. Indeed, some employers defaulted women into the opt-out on marriage.

Recently, I asked my parents why they had made no pension provision for my mother. Their response? "It never occurred to us". Needless to say my dad has a decent SP and receives annuities from other pensions. Having worked for almost 40 years from the age of 14, my mother has zilch except her entitlement to the reduced married woman's pension.

Rinse-and-repeat for my aunts.
A very different world.