State Pension.

destype

My 75 year old mother has worked for 20 years. She started working after she divorced my father. She had child benefit in her name so it would count towards her state pension. She was 23 when she had me and had three children in total. She is still working in the NHS. 

The pension people have told her she is not entitled to any state pension. She has also said that they’ve told her that she isn’t entitled to pension credit because she has savings. She’s been saving because she’s trying to future proof herself. I’m going to ring them to confirm this. Not sure they will speak to me so thats the reason I’m asking on here.

Any advice as to what she can do. It doesn’t look like she can top up her state pension because she is above the upper limit of 72. She’s told me that she started ringing them when she was 73 so we can’t even say that she wasn’t given the right advice at the time. 

They’ve basically told her to stop ringing them as they can’t help her. From what she has said they’ve given her no advice as to what she can do. 

Any advice? I realise that there are some details missing ie how much in savings she has, I think it’s substantial ie possibly £50k but not as much as £100k. She hasn’t told me how much. 

Thanks. 

Devongardener

Has you gone onto the HMRC website to check her entitlement? 

 I’m surprised she’s still working in the NHS at 75, but does she have an NHS pension?

jem16

Your Mum will have reached SPA when she was 60. Did she not claim her pension at that point?

First of all did your Amun work before she had children? Home Responsibilities Protection which gave NI Credits did not begin until April 1978. However if your Mum chose to pay the Married Woman’s small stamp she wouldn’t have got those credits even when they started. It also meant she was not entitled to a state pension. 

So your Mum may not have built up any state pension entitlement of her own but could have claimed against her husband’s contributions when he reached SPA. She would have been able to do this even if divorced. 

The DWP will not speak to you about your Mum’s state pension without her authorising it. However if you could both be there at the same time, she could phone to answer the security questions and then ask them to speak to you. Tell them your mother is divorced and she wants to claim her pension based on her ex husband’s contributions. I’m assuming she hasn’t remarried?

destype

To answer some of your questions: she does still work for the NHS. She’s a grafter so they are happy for her to stay on. There are other women there of the same age and I think possibly older.

She does have an NHS pension. 

My father died in 2017. In the divorce she received nothing from him because she stayed in the house. I think she has spoken to them about getting my father’s state pension but they said no. 

She didn’t remarry. She didn’t realise that she could claim her pension while she was still working. When she realised that’s when she started talking to the pension people and that’s when she was told she wasn’t receiving a pension. 

I could probably get her on another phone and speak to them, Would that work?

thanks for all your responses. I’m going to write them down as there are some things here I didn’t know about. 

jem16

destype said:

My father died in 2017. In the divorce she received nothing from him because she stayed in the house. I think she has spoken to them about getting my father’s state pension but they said no. 

You need to word this correctly. She’s not getting your father’s state pension as this isn’t possible although she may be able to inherit some of his additional pension if he had any. 

What she needs to do is to say she wishes to claim her state pension based on her husband’s NI Record. 

I’m not sure what you mean by getting your Mum on another phone. You need to be there at the same time and call together. 

Brie

destype said:

I could probably get her on another phone and speak to them, Would that work?

thanks for all your responses. I’m going to write them down as there are some things here I didn’t know about. 

If you're talking about a 3 party line, something like a zoom call, that should work.  It's just having your mom, the DWP & you all "together" so mom can say "yes this is my child and I want you to discuss this with them" after getting through security.

Good idea to prep your questions as getting this done in one call (hopefully!) will obviously be easiest.  Try arranging this for 8 am when the lines open so as not to get at the end of a huge queue.

destype

So what I thought I could do was get my son’s phone when he gets back from school and have her on there at the same time I ring. 

pinnks

That might work but I think they might want your mum to call them and then for you to join.  I helped a friend with their DWP discussion.  She called DWP and I was in a Skype call with her with the speakers turned on.  DWP were OK with that.  Whether they will take a call from you and allow your mum to pass security checks while she is on loudspeaker on the other phone is up to them, I guess...

destype

So your Mum may not have built up any state pension entitlement of her own but could have claimed against her husband’s contributions when he reached SPA. She would have been able to do this even if divorced. 

Can she still do this if he died?

jem16

destype said:

So your Mum may not have built up any state pension entitlement of her own but could have claimed against her husband’s contributions when he reached SPA. She would have been able to do this even if divorced. 

Can she still do this if he died?

Yes she can providing she never remarried which you've said she didn't.

destype

jem16 I think you hold the key to this all! Thank you!