Female pensioner with gaps in National Insurance years when raising young children

dajastro

We are pensioners in our 70's and I get a higher state pension than my wife so I was curious as to why? So I checked my wife's NI record. It shows all full payments from 1969 until 2021 (her official retirement date) except for only three years 1975/76 1976/77 & 1977/78. During those years two of our three children (in 1975) were just 4 years old and 2 years old plus our third child was born in 1977.
My questions are; should she have been awarded NI credits for those three years? Would this have affected her pension now? Is she being underpaid??
She receives £168 per week which won't get her anywhere near the figure of £200 plus, that politicians are quoting with the 10% rise, in TV interviews following the autumn budget.
Many Thanks.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

dajastro said:

We are pensioners in our 70's and I get a higher state pension than my wife so I was curious as to why? So I checked my wife's NI record. It shows all full payments from 1969 until 2021 (her official retirement date) except for only three years 1975/76 1976/77 & 1977/78. During those years two of our three children (in 1975) were just 4 years old and 2 years old plus our third child was born in 1977.
My questions are; should she have been awarded NI credits for those three years? Would this have affected her pension now? Is she being underpaid??
She receives £168 per week which won't get her anywhere near the figure of £200 plus, that politicians are quoting with the 10% rise, in TV interviews following the autumn budget.
Many Thanks.

They are referring to the new State Pension.

When did your wife reach State Pension age?

enthusiasticsaver

Your wife presumably received child benefit during the years mentioned so did she not get the NI credits for that?

My husband will get more than me in his state pension because the old state pension scheme had a second part related to earnings.  Are you sure that is not why yours is higher?  Also if your wife worked in the public sector she may have a COPE score which will reduce her state pension. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Modern Child Benefit only started in 1977 though.

dajastro

Hi, I do get a higher pension because of ERP's & SERP's etc., but I actually opted out of SERPS from age 35 until around age 53 when I went back in for a while.
She basically brought up children receiving child benefit and then worked first as part time then on to full time in a manual job from around 1986 (when youngest was 12) but not in the public sector.
What prompted me to look at her pension was the statement that this 10% rise next April will put pensions up to over £200 per week - well hers will go up to around £174, not earth shattering and probably around one month's energy bill - and that's if we go easy on the heating!!

sammyjammy

As has already been said the £200 figure relates to those on the new State pension, currently £185.15, this is not what your wife is in receipt of.

molerat

Child benefit NI credits - then called home responsibilities protection - did not start until the 78-79 tax year. Prior to 2010 credits were awarded up to age 16.

We are pensioners in our 70's ..........  my wife's NI record. It shows all full payments from 1969 until 2021 (her official retirement date)

The two bolded bits make no sense.

xylophone

The two bolded bits make no sense.

Perhaps he means that she reached SPA in 2012? This seems more likely!

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

At all events, he states that his wife's SP is currently £168  which means that she receives more than the Basic State Pension (currently £141.85). 

It seems likely therefore that the amount over Basic is made up of (possibly) Graduated SP and some SERPS/S2P.

The fact that she worked in a manual job and outside the public sector does not mean that she  could not have been a member of a DB pension scheme, although the OP may have mentioned if this was the case.

At all events, her statement of increase in benefits (probably received in March) will show exactly how her pension is made up.

And there is no reason at all why the OP's SP should not be more than his wife's.

Even if he was contracted out for a period, he could still have more Additional State Pension than his wife.

My relative (rising 75)  clocked up nearly forty years in an excellent contracted out DB  Scheme but did around six years contracted in - his ASP is still higher than that of his wife.

It all depends on individual circumstances.

After 6 April, his wife's SP is likely to be around £185 a week.

Silvertabby

dajastro said:

We are pensioners in our 70's and I get a higher state pension than my wife so I was curious as to why? So I checked my wife's NI record. It shows all full payments from 1969 until 2021 (her official retirement date) except for only three years 1975/76 1976/77 & 1977/78. During those years two of our three children (in 1975) were just 4 years old and 2 years old plus our third child was born in 1977.
My questions are; should she have been awarded NI credits for those three years? Would this have affected her pension now? Is she being underpaid??
She receives £168 per week which won't get her anywhere near the figure of £200 plus, that politicians are quoting with the 10% rise, in TV interviews following the autumn budget.
Many Thanks.

Before I start, let me say that I am not, nor have I ever been, a supporter of WASPE, having been fully apprised of the inevitable re-equalisation of State pension ages since the mid 1990s.  However, you and your wife may be comforted by these figures...

After adding on next April's 10.1% increase, using those figures for simplicity, ditto average age of death:

Your wife.  25 X £9,642 = £241,050

Me.             19 X £10,626 = £201,894

So your wife is still some way ahead of the game.