Help Please, Home Responsibilities Protection question

linclass

Hello,
I officially start receiving my state pension in November. I have a reduced state pension, as I haven't enough contributions. I don't qualify for pension credit, but apparently do for HRP. I am really confused regarding this payment, is there anyone who knows how this works please? I was in receipt of Family Allowance (as it was called in the 80s !) between 1978 and 1988. So that's 10 years worth of looking after children. What would the payments be please for this period? I hope I've explained this properly, thanks.

UPDATE: According to Gov.UK I have 23 years full contributions and am 20 years not enough contributions - this doesn't seem correct to me, do I need 43 years worth?? I thought it was something like 39 years !!

Dox

Googling on 'home responsibilities protection' gets you to this link, which should give you all the info you need (including whether you do indeed qualify): https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp

linclass

Dox wrote: »

Googling on 'home responsibilities protection' gets you to this link, which should give you all the info you need (including whether you do indeed qualify): https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp

Thank you Dox, yes I've viewed that before. So - does that mean that for the 10 years I was caring for my children and receiving child allowance, that I might be awarded up to 10 years contributions equivalent please? I find the Gov.UK websites quite confusing. They seem to 'miss bits out' :-)

xylophone

When you began work (presumably sometime between 1970 and 1975), a woman needed 39 qualifying years to be eligible for a full basic state pension.

In 1978, the Govt. introduced "HRP". This reduced the number of qualifying years required to qualify for the full basic state pension, but only to a minimum of 20 years.

If you were receiving FA between 1978 and 1988, it seems likely that you qualified.

In 2010, the number of years required (for men or women) to qualify for a full basic state pension was reduced to 30 years.

In 2016 there was another change - the new state pension would have a requirement for 35 years.

According to the link,

Any HRP credits you had before 6 April 2010 have been converted into National Insurance credits (up to a maximum of 22 years). You must have reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 for these credits to go towards your State Pension.

At 6/4/2016, two calculations were done

NI/30 X £119.30 + (Additional State Pension - any deduction for contracting out).

(NI /35 X £155.65) - Contracted Out Pension Equivalent.

You would only have a COD/COPE if you were ever in a pension scheme which contracted out of the Additional State Pension (SERPS/S2P).

Whichever of the above calculations was higher was your starting amount for new state pension.

What exactly does your state pension forecast say?

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

molerat

As above, you need a full breakdown of your pension forecast and NI history which is available on the state pension forecast page and will show which years are full and how they were paid. If there are any gaps from 2006-07 to 2018-19 you will be able to top those up providing you have the funds.

linclass

xylophone wrote: »

When you began work (presumably sometime between 1970 and 1975), a woman need 39 qualifying years to be eligible for a full basic state pension.

Thanks xylophone, My forecast says: 20 years full payments, 23 years insufficient. This of course doesn't total 39 years! So why 43 years is anyones guess... I **think** I qualify for 8 years HRP for my first child (born 1970) and 10 years for my 2nd child (born 1972) - OR, does it only count for ONE child? I find the whole thing very confusing. HOWEVER! I WAS working from 1977 to 2002, some of that time was part time, so would working affect whether I was indeed caring for my family??

linclass

molerat wrote: »

As above, you need a full breakdown of your pension forecast and NI history which is available on the state pension forecast page and will show which years are full and how they were paid. If there are any gaps from 2006-07 to 2018-19 you will be able to top those up providing you have the funds.

Thanks molerat, I stopped working in 2002. My Forecast states as I've mentioned above, but I think I qualify for HRP to boost the deficient years contributions. If anyone can add to this, I''d be delighted :-)

squirrelpie

You need to look again at your pension forecast and find where it gives you your complete NI history. That will tell you exactly what they think you have paid or been credited with. Your history may (should) already include the credits for HRP. I don't think you have told us how long you worked for either.


Once you have established exactly what your record is and made sure you agree with it, then you can think about making voluntary payments for more recent years if you can, to increase how much state pension you will get.

xylophone

Have a look at this.


https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

jamesd

We need the full details, the part which lists each year and its status. Much of it will be lines like this:

2005-06 Year is not full

View 2005-06 details then showing: You did not make any contributions this year. It's too late to pay for this year.

or

1998-99 Full year

It's clear that you can buy at least 6 years to get you to 29 years and another 6/35*£168.60 = £28.90 a week, £1502.80 a year. But not yet clear that you need to.

But it's not clear what happened with HRP and we really need the extra details. It's possible that HRP isn't properly included in your forecast. No point in thinking about buying years until it's certain that the starting point is right.

GunJack

Also, don't focus on "I thought I needed x years", get online and see exactly where you are now, and how much you could get to. It's on the main State Pension page when you log in - usually 3 figures given, a forecast, what you've got up to April 2018, and how many more years needed. That info, coupled with your detailed NI record (link off the main SP page), wiill give you enough info to progress this