OAP and carer's credit . 27 January at 3:29PM in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning 11 replies 437 views

alfmurph

My wife has worked all her life but was contracted out for a number of years and so on reaching 66 in april her new state pension is £176 weekly and not the full £185.15 .She stopped working at 63 .
She has been awarded 2 years carer's credit for looking after her dad with dementia who sadly passed away two weeks ago .
How much will the carer's credit add to her oap .
Cannot seem to find this on google .

alfmurph

Will it add up to the full £185.15p .

alfmurph

She has over the 35 years nhi contributions needed .

Pat38493

alfmurph said:

She has over the 35 years nhi contributions needed .

If the 2 years carer's credit are the most recent two years and those years are currently not full, it might take it pretty much to the maximum, but I think I've seen some comments here that the last partial year running up to SP age doesn't count or something, so it might even depend on the exact day in April when she turns 66. 

You may want to post exactly the details of what her state pension estimate says from gov.uk website including the bumf below the amount.  Technically having 35 years is not the main point if she was contracted out - if you were contracted out it's perfectly possible to have more than 35 years, but still not have the full amount accrued as we are currently in a transitional period post the 2016 changes.

And also what is the exact date she will start drawing State pension, and which years are currently not full, and which years will get carer's allowance?  There are better experts than me on this board who can give a more definitive answer.

calcotti

alfmurph said:

She has over the 35 years nhi contributions needed .

Anyone born before 2000 is in a transitional scheme and a full SP can be achieved with less than 35 years or may require more than 35 years. She should get a State Pension forecast.

Each full tax year of NI credits will add £5.29 to the pension (at current rates).

Blue_Butterfly

If your wife's 66th birthday is on or after 6th April she will be able to use the current 22-23 tax/NI year to count towards her State Pension if under the £185.15 maximum. If her birthday is 1st-5th April it will not count as its not a complete tax year.

As your wife's father sadly died 2 weeks ago her Carer NI credits will stop, and this may be before the end of the tax/NI year. A NI year has to be full to count, so if you had 48 weeks out of 52 of NI credits it would not count towards increasing her State Pension. The good news is that you can make voluntary contributions for the missing weeks to make the whole year count.

I was also contracted out and am currently on my 50th year of NI and will only reach the maximum when my 22-23 Carer Credits are added!

alfmurph

Good news . My wife received letter from carer's credit saying she has been accepted for two years 2021 and 2022 but refused for 2020 because she was too late to apply .


Next day letter from hmrc said her pension on her birthday april 29 th was being increased to the maximum of £815 .40 p every four weeks . A rise of around just under £5 per week or £19 every four weeks .

As someone said multiply that by 52 and then the amount of years you live and you are talking £5k .

alfmurph

My numbers are a bit messed up but you get what i mean .

thanks for replies .

GhibliFan

Nice to hear some good news, well done!

I only found out about Carer's Credit recently.  It doesn't seem to be as well known as Carer's Allowance.  I also got two years (I would have been entitled to it for the last 6 years if I'd known!) but then Mum died last year, so it stopped. Two years is better than nothing.

Chloe_G

Do you have to claim separately for Carer's credit?  My brother is getting Carer's allowance and assumed he would be getting Carer's credit.  Thank you.

calcotti

Chloe_G said:

Do you have to claim separately for Carer's credit?  My brother is getting Carer's allowance and assumed he would be getting Carer's credit.  Thank you.

If they are getting Carer's Allowance there is no need to claim Carers Credits. They are getting Class 1 NI credits because they get Carers Allowance. Carer Credits  (Class 3) are for those who are caring but are not eligible for Carers Allowance.
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

Carers

Your situation	How to get credits
You’re on Carer’s Allowance	You get Class 1 credits automatically
You’re caring for one or more sick or disabled person for at least 20 hours a week	Apply for Class 3 carer’s credits if you’re not on Carer’s Allowance or Income Support