Women’s underpaid state pension

Silvertabby

I do wonder about the unneccessary (ie, time consuming) extra work caused by women who know full well that they are not affected, yet bung in claims anyway.

I personally know of two ladies who submitted claims, despite never having paid the married woman's stamp, 'because if you don't ask you don't get'.

Yes, they got the expected response from DWP ("your pension is correct") but how much time was wasted on checking their pension records and generating the letters?

Meanwhile, ladies who do qualify and who really need this money are still waiting....

Mariolanza

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

xylophone

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

It's only likely/possible in certain cases.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/married-women-missing-state-pension-boost/#:~:text=More than 100,000 women are,check if they're owed.

Silvertabby

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

sparky0138

Senior MPs challenge DWP on “shambles” after leaked internal documents and screenshots on Westminster Confidential reveal pension claims are being dumped...

https://davidhencke.com/2022/05/01/senior-mps-challenge-dwp-on-shambles-after-leaked-internal-documents-and-screenshots-on-westminster-confidential-reveal-pension-claims-are-being-dumped/

JJC1956

Silvertabby said:

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

No Silvertabby, the bottom line is well over 100,000 (some women in your words) have missed out on a decent living from their husband’s pension. 

Silvertabby

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

No Silvertabby, the bottom line is well over 100,000 (some women in your words) have missed out on a decent living from their husband’s pension. 

You miss my point - I'm saying that if the women who clearly aren't affected by this debacle didn't waste DWP's time by bunging in false claims, then claims submitted by the ones who are entitled to payments would be dealt with much more quickly.

Of the two women I mentioned in my first post, both are like me.  Married after 1977, never paid married woman's stamp and in receipt of full State pensions in their own right.  Yet they submitted claims 'just in case'.  

JJC1956

Silvertabby said:

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

No Silvertabby, the bottom line is well over 100,000 (some women in your words) have missed out on a decent living from their husband’s pension. 

You miss my point - I'm saying that if the women who clearly aren't affected by this debacle didn't waste DWP's time by bunging in false claims, then claims submitted by the ones who are entitled to payments would be dealt with much more quickly.

Of the two women I mentioned in my first post, both are like me.  Married after 1977, never paid married woman's stamp and in receipt of full State pensions in their own right.  Yet they submitted claims 'just in case'.  

I think you said a lot more than that, you wrote a whole paragraph saying how much you didn’t believe women knew whether they made NI contributions or not, to be honest your post is not at all helpful, you are playing the blame game, let the DWP get their finger out and sort the problem out, irrespective of whether a couple of women you know shouldn’t have applied.

Silvertabby

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

No Silvertabby, the bottom line is well over 100,000 (some women in your words) have missed out on a decent living from their husband’s pension. 

You miss my point - I'm saying that if the women who clearly aren't affected by this debacle didn't waste DWP's time by bunging in false claims, then claims submitted by the ones who are entitled to payments would be dealt with much more quickly.

Of the two women I mentioned in my first post, both are like me.  Married after 1977, never paid married woman's stamp and in receipt of full State pensions in their own right.  Yet they submitted claims 'just in case'.  

I think you said a lot more than that, you wrote a whole paragraph saying how much you didn’t believe women knew whether they made NI contributions or not, to be honest your post is not at all helpful, you are playing the blame game, let the DWP get their finger out and sort the problem out, irrespective of whether a couple of women you know shouldn’t have applied.

So what are you saying? That ALL women over SPA should bung in a 'just in case' claim, and it's DWPs fault that they can't process all these claims by return of post?  Not trying to start an argument, just asking.....

My first job after leaving school was in the early 1970s.  When we received our weekly pay packets a couple of my (married and paying the 'little'  stamp)  colleagues would make a great fuss about how much more money they had, and what they were going to spend it on.

When a friend married, these women tried to drag her down to HR 'to get her stamp back' as they couldn't believe that someone would give more money to the government than they had to.  When my friend said that she was going to carry on paying full stamp, as she wanted a pension in her own right, the laughed in her face and called her 'stupid' as they were going to claim their pensions from their husband's contributions.

I dare say that some of the 100,000 women you quoted didn't know that they were eligible to claim extra pension, but by no means all.

Thrugelmir

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

JJC1956 said:

Silvertabby said:

Mariolanza said:

But how do you know if one has been underpaid??

Mostly applies to some women who opted to pay the married woman's stamp.  The problem is due to their State pensions not being increased when their husbands reached SPA (or should have reached SPA) when the women should have benefitted from their husband's NI contributions.

Women who - like the two I mentioned - never paid the married woman's stamp aren't affected.  However, I suspect that many have shoved in time-wasting claims 'because they can'.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe any woman who says that she doesn't know if she paid the married woman's rate of NI or not.  Those who did had to sign a declaration confirming that they understood that they were reliant on their husbands NI contributions for the bulk of their own State pensions.  My aunt always regretted going down this road, but the difference in the NI she actually paid was the difference between affording or not affording a mortgage, so it must have been a considerable amount.

Bottom line is that women who married for the first time after April 1977 certainly didn't pay the married woman's stamp, as that was when it was ended for new applicants.

No Silvertabby, the bottom line is well over 100,000 (some women in your words) have missed out on a decent living from their husband’s pension. 

You miss my point - I'm saying that if the women who clearly aren't affected by this debacle didn't waste DWP's time by bunging in false claims, then claims submitted by the ones who are entitled to payments would be dealt with much more quickly.

Of the two women I mentioned in my first post, both are like me.  Married after 1977, never paid married woman's stamp and in receipt of full State pensions in their own right.  Yet they submitted claims 'just in case'.  

I think you said a lot more than that, you wrote a whole paragraph saying how much you didn’t believe women knew whether they made NI contributions or not, to be honest your post is not at all helpful, you are playing the blame game, let the DWP get their finger out and sort the problem out, irrespective of whether a couple of women you know shouldn’t have applied.

There are only so many hours in a working day. Dealing with non productive issues seems to be a culture these days. Makes you wonder who is actually working.........