Where to get free, independent pension advice in my 40's

2nd_time_buyer

I think whatever way you divide it, it will be tight in retirement unless things change. I expect any (paid or unpaid advice) will eventually come to the same conclusion. 

The simple answer is you might need more income.  You mentioned that your partner is not entitled to benefits. Assuming, that is the case, it would be very efficient for them to work at least to the personal allowance (£12,570). Perhaps, that might free up enough to buy a home in the medium term (?). Hopefully, your personal circumstances might change to make that possible.

CurlySue2017

It is definitely the case that he is not entitled to any benefits, we have made the choice for him not to work at present for personal reasons.

In all honesty, unless we had a good amount of savings I would not want to buy a house again.  I've been there and done that when I was much younger and when the proverbial hits the fan, you get zero help when you own your own home.  I lost everything back in the 2008-2010 crash and this really scared me off home ownership.
My partner now was not my partner then by the way, this was years ago but the stress and trauma of losing everything still haunts me.  So unless we had a large pot of money to dip into - which we don't and never will have (bar a lottery win! ) then home ownership is not going to be for me again.

I feel better now about the pension situation after reading these boards in detail and getting the replies here from you helpful folks......I'm certainly no expert but I know more now than I did before 

MallyGirl

That is good to hear