Old state pension - married woman's stamp

NedS

Hi all,

Asking for mother, who retired in 1993 (SPA 60) with a small state pension having paid a married woman's stamp for much of her working life, and latterly paid the full stamp for maybe the last 10 or so years (maybe less). If Dad dies first, would Mum be entitled to any additional state pension / widows pension having paid a married woman's stamp? Or will she be expected to claim pension credit (I suspect she may be doing that regardless)?

Also, were NI credits available for having children back in those days?

molerat

Yes she will likely receive an increase in her pension.  It is a fairly complex area and here are a couple of links

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/inheritance-spouse-civil-partner

State Pension (ageuk.org.uk)

NI credits for having children were only available from 1978 and were not available to those paying the "small stamp"

NedS

Thank you - I will have a good read through that tomorrow.

xylophone

Just how small is your mother's state pension?

https://www.usdaw.org.uk/Help-Advice/Pensions/Retired-Members/Older-married-women

And see

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/inheritance-spouse-civil-partner

xylophone

For more detail, see Annex A  (p20 onwards) here

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

NedS

xylophone said:

Just how small is your mother's state pension?

It was just under £4.5k a few years ago, so maybe around £5k pa now

xylophone

NI credits for having children 

1978 saw the introduction of "Home Responsibilities Protection"

It  reduced the number of years required for a full basic state pension to a minimum of twenty years at a time when a woman required 39 years.

The NI credit system was introduced in 2010.

https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp/eligibility

Married women or widows

You cannot get HRP for any complete tax year if you were a married woman or a widow and:

• you had chosen to pay reduced rate Class 1 National Insurance contributions as an employee (commonly known as the small stamp)

maybe around £5k pa now

Then more than she would receive if she were claiming solely on a husband's full contributions (spouse pension currently £85 a week).

Re Pension Credit

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf