Are you getting all your State Pension?
If you’re a woman aged 67 or over and you’ve ever been married, you might not be. Read on …
Photo by Colin Watts at Unsplash
I wrote a blog post about how to get a State Pension forecast. This was squarely aimed at people who haven't yet started claiming their State Pension (yes – you don't get a State Pension automatically – you have to claim it). So, it only dealt with the new State Pension arrangements that started in 2016.
It's now coming to light that thousands of women receiving a State Pension may not be getting the full amount they're entitled to under the old State Pension system. This has been highlighted in research by former pensions minister Steve Webb, now a partner at pension firm Lane Clark & Peacock 'LCP'). You can see the research here: https://www.lcp.uk.com/media-centre/2020/05/are-thousands-of-older-women-being-short-changed-on-their-state-pension/
Is this you?
If the following things apply to you, check whether you should be getting more State Pension.
You were born before 6 April 1953.
You are, or have been, married to a man who is now over 65.
Your husband is entitled to a Basic State Pension of £134.25 a week (make sure you only look at the Basic State Pension, not the total State Pension amount).
Your own Basic State Pension is less than £80.45 a week.
LCP has set up a section on its website where you can answer a few simple questions to see if you might be affected. Go to https://www.lcp.uk.com/underpaid/
How to check if you should have more State Pension
Call the Pension Service: 0800 731 0469 (Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3.30pm except bank holidays - calls to this number are free)
Online: search for https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service which takes you straight to a page with various options for contacting the Pension Service.
If you'd rather write, here's the address for the Future Pension Centre.
The Pension Service 9
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LU
United Kingdom
If you find you are owed State Pension, ask for it to be backdated and paid with interest.
How did this happen?
It's complicated. There's a full breakdown in the LCP research but here's a summary.
Under the pre-2016 State Pension system, if you were a married woman who didn't do paid work, you paid a lower rate of National Insurance contributions. (People used to call this the married woman's stamp. I remember women talking about 'paying the stamp' when I was growing up in South Wales. Little did I know I'd one day be writing a blog post about it.)
As paying the stamp didn't qualify you for State Pension, you could claim up to 60% of the full State Pension amount based on your husband's National Insurance contributions. (This was the Basic State Pension. There were other parts. Pre-2016 State Pension was one of the most fiendishly complicated systems known to humanity. Let's not go there.)
Before 2008, you had to claim this State Pension when your husband reached 65.
If you didn't do this, you can claim now.
After 2008, this State Pension was supposed to be paid automatically when your husband reached State Pension age (which was 65 until 2018).
This didn't always happen. You can ask for it to be paid now.
Tell people, find out more
Please, tell people about this (observing social distancing, of course). Tell your mother. Tell your grandmother. Tell your friends' mothers and grandmothers.
Also, be aware of other State Pension issues for older women, especially those who have been affected by speeding up the rise in the State Pension age. You can find out more about this by visiting the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group’s website: www.waspi.co.uk.
Let's all help each other be more informed. #LoveYourPension #PensionHowTo