Elderly mum not getting full basic state pension-what am I missing??

spiritus

My mum has 31 years of full NI contributions up until she retired in 1986-1987 at 60.
She is currently paid just over £ 125 a week but I believe the maximum state pension amount is £ 134.25. I am curious as to why she is not being paid the maximum amount.
HMRC's own website states "To get the full basic State Pension you need a total of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits. If you have fewer than 30 qualifying years, your basic State Pension will be less than £134.25 per week but you might be able to top up ...."
Her NI record also states that she had 19 full years upto 1975 but I am pretty sure she was working between 1951 to 1956 but this isn't acknowledged in her NI record.
What am I missing?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Didn't she need 39 years?

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

Silvertabby

Yes.  39 years for women (44 for men) back then.

spiritus

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Didn't she need 39 years?

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

You might be right! I am still confused though. On the very same HMRC page it states you need 30 full years of NI contributions to claim a full pension yet further down the page it does indeed state you need 39 years. Clear as mud

[Deleted User]

Clearly states born before dates qualifications.  IE women born before 1950 have a different qualification than women born before 1953. Rules change. Regards

xylophone

Your mother should have received a letter (around March) concerning her state pension for the current year.
What exactly does it say?

And pre 6/4/10 women needed 39 years and men 44 years to be eligible for a full basic state pension.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Pension_(United_Kingdom)

ouraggie

Is that your mum's only income? If so, she's probably eligible for pension credit.

snowqueen555

ouraggie said:

Is that your mum's only income? If so, she's probably eligible for pension credit.

I was going to say this^
PS 39 and 44 years is crazy high

Mojisola

snowqueen555 said:

PS 39 and 44 years is crazy high

Not really when people started full-time work at 16. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Mojisola said:

snowqueen555 said:

PS 39 and 44 years is crazy high

Not really when people started full-time work at 16. 

And generally got some years automatically credited.

JoeCrystal

snowqueen555 said:

ouraggie said:

Is that your mum's only income? If so, she's probably eligible for pension credit.

I was going to say this^
PS 39 and 44 years is crazy high

Not really. I am expecting to do 47 years of work between 21 to 68, so it makes sense if it is that high. Indeed, I am fully expecting that the number of years required to get to 100% of the state pension to go up slowly.