Married Women’s Stamp November 25 2024

Muffin28121949

I also applied for MWS in 1972/1973. From 1973 until 1975 I was unemployed home and caring for children.
When I I applied for my pension on retirement I was not aware of the consequences and implications on my pension as a result of the MWS.
I have paperwork that clearly states that if you are unemployed for two years you are not eligible to remain in recipient of the MWS and it would be revoked by a different department set up by the HMRC and this into was passed to the DWP.
This never happened which I found out on retirement.
In 2014 I received a letter after I contacted both the HMRC / DWP re estimated pension quote.
I was told that I had lost years as I had remained on the MWS in May 1975 as I had not revoked my MWS so the HMRC decided that I had chosen to remain in receipt of the MWS so it continued to be awarded.
The HMRC/ DWP at no point contacted or consulted me to advise of these changes made.
The letter of 2014 stated that it had been submitted to the media via the newspapers of these changes.
I went to a Tribunal to challenge these decisions which was HMRC dominated who stated that I had not provided any new evidence to back my claims. That my records were destroyed so the appeal was dismissed.
I have recently contacted both the DWP /HMRC but I’m now told that you cannot overturn a tribunal ruling. This took twelve months between both departments to come to this decision.
I have accessed all my records from the archives which clearly state that to be in receipt of the MWS you are required to be registered as employed . I have the records that clearly state not employd and no employer deductions.
The tribunal even clearly recorded when i was working and dated when I was unemployed.
How many married women have been placed in this position on HMRC’s assumption that we wished to remain in receipt of the MWS.
How can they register you wishes to remain in recipe of the MWS if they fail to consult the claimant and give them the choice to revoke or remain in receipt.
I strongly believe this is an error made by the HMRC and has disadvantaged married women on changes made with out any formal consultation.[name removed]

brightngat

Hi Muffin28121949, thank you for sharing your MWS experience, it sounds very similar to my wife's.

She did a small job in 1975 for which she started paying NI on MWS, after which she did not work for over 3 years and looked after her children full time. She did another small job in 1979/80 for which NI is recorded then did some occasional work which did not earn enough for NI contributions until going back to full time work in 1990(?).

Similar to yourself, we thought HMRC guidance says she lost the right to MWS if there were no NI contributions for 2 tax years in a row. This would have meant she was out of MWS by 1978/79, however the HMRC says she was still under it until 1985. Technically we do not understand how she could still be on MWS from 1978/79. Practically, if MWS is revoked by a different department in the HMRC, I can see how they could just miss/loose paperwork in the late 1970s! 

If we want to split hairs, the HMRC could argue to "lose the right to MWS" is not the same as not having MWS - so you could still be paying MWS when you do not have the right to it. Does that make sense? 

The HMRC help line suggested we write a letter to the National Insurance Contribution and Employer Office to clarify, but all we got back was the CF411 application form to fill in for Home Responsibilities Protection and with no mention of our correspondence! 

It seems like they are only willing look at their existing information - in my wife's case, it states she's under MWS until 1985 - and not why MWS was not removed earlier as per their rules. If applied correctly, we believe my wife should have 7 years of Home Responsibilities Protection not the 1 year their existing information would give. That's a huge difference to her pension and back payments.

Not sure how to proceed at the moment, but might just submit the CF411 for now.