Basic State Pension Top-Up Entitlement

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Type https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7981/ into Google and your should be able to download  House of Commons Briefing Paper  

Number CBP-7981, 11 December 2020

State Pensions 2020: FAQs

See page 6 and following of the above.

These rules could provide a basic State Pension of up to £80.45 pw for a married person or civil partner and up to £134.25 pw for a widow, widower or surviving civil partner (2020/21 amounts). A person who was divorced or whose civil partnership had been annulled might be able to draw on the contribution record of a former spouse to increase their entitlement. In addition, a widow(er) or surviving civil partner might be able to inherit a proportion of their late spouse or civil partner’s additional State Pension, with the proportion they could inherit depending on age at the time of death. 

State Pension uplift – how were some married women underpaid? 

As explained above, under the rules for people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, it was possible to derive entitlement to the State Pension based on the contributions of a (former) spouse or civil partner. 

However, former Pensions Minister, Sir Steve Webb, has found that some married women who were eligible for an uplift in their State Pension when their husband reached State Pension age did not in fact receive it. In some cases, this was because they did not claim, in others because it should have been awarded automatically but was not. 

Those married women whose husbands reached State Pension age before 17 March 2008, were required to make a claim to receive the uplift. Some of them did not realise the need to do so. It appears that DWP sent State Pension information (including information about the potential uplift) to individuals shortly before they reached State Pension age. However, in situations like the above, this meant that at the time a claim needed to be made by the wife, the information was sent to her husband. 

From 17 March 2008, the rules were changed to enable the increase to be paid automatically. However, this did not happen in all cases. 

Your father should write to the DWP at the address shown on his annual statement of benefit

and query why your mother is not receiving a Cat B pension.

jamesd

Child benefit could be key here. Where a husband has claimed instead of a wife it's been possible to  move the NI credits from husband to wife. If this works for her it'd give her some state pension in her own name and maybe an opportunity to do even better by buying years. If the children spanned 30 years she could even get a full basic state pension with nothing to pay.

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Child benefit could be key here.

The OP's mother reached SPA in December 2008.

From what the OP says, his mother came to the UK in 1978 so perhaps marriage to Dad and  children followed in the early eighties - these were the years of HRP.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-1616017/Womens-pensions-Home-Responsibilities-Protection.html

HRP, which was introduced in 1978, reduces the number of qualifying years required to qualify for the full basic state pension, but only to a minimum of 20 years. After April 2020, when the state pension age for women is raised to 65 years, the minimum number of qualifying years will be 22. If the number of qualifying years needed to be eligible for the full basic state pension have been reduced to 20 years, only five years are needed to qualify for the minimum basic state pension, which is a quarter of the full basic state pension.

The OP indicates that Dad claimed the CB but  there is the facility for transfer of HRP in certain circumstances.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/799372/cf411-notes.pdf

How to apply

Fill in application form ‘CF411 Application form for Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP)’ if you were:.........

• not the person who was awarded Child Benefit for a child under 16 – we may be

able to transfer HRP from the Child Benefit claimant’s National Insurance account to your account if you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2008 (Note: please also see ‘Transferring entitlement to HRP’ below.)

Transferring entitlement to HRP

Sometimes the person who was in paid employment claimed Child Benefit, rather than the person who was staying at home to care for the child. For tax years from 6 April 1978 to 5 April 2010, if the Child Benefit claimant already had a qualifying year on their National Insurance account during the period of HRP, their spouse, partner or civil partner can apply to have the HRP transferred to their own National Insurance account.

You need to meet certain conditions for HRP to be transferred. These are:

• you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2008 or, in the case of a

  bereavement benefit claim, your spouse or civil partner died on or after that date

• the Child Benefit claimant cannot themselves benefit from HRP because their

  earnings were equal to or above the qualifying earnings factor for that year

• you were living with the Child Benefit claimant for the relevant period and you

  were sharing the care for a child under 16

• you would have been able to get Child Benefit if your spouse, partner or civil

  partner had not been awarded it.    

• 
  

•    BUT  the HRP only works as a "reducer" of years required to qualify for a state pension and the OP has indicated that his mother has no qualifying years of her own at all. Presumably all will be clarified once the OP's father has written to the DWP.

jamesd

Yes, I knew it was possible but not the transition date from reduction  to credits. As you say, we'll see what turns up. We might find that she's in some transitional category that still allows her to buy years to qualify. Even then, what she can get via her husband might turn out to be the better way. Work needed to verify the best possible outcome but it still might not improve things.

elouise01582

Make sure your mum looks into home responsibilities protection (HRP) which is what she would have received had she claimed child benefit instead of your dad. My mum was born in 1946 and my brother in 1977 and when we looked at her state pension forecast in 2006 it showed no HRP.  We questioned this and they confirmed it was an error and she should have had 4 years - until she returned to work when my brother was 5. They wanted the last child benefit/family book she would have had but my brother was 30 by then so we just sent them a certified copy of his birth certificate which they were happy with.  So even if the correct spouse was claiming child benefit it can still go wrong.  Good luck.