A woman, whether married
or single, is entitled to claim the Basic State Pension (BSP) on
reaching her State Pension Age (SPA).
The amount available is dependent on the number of qualifying years she has and whether
she reaches her SPA before or after 6 April 2010.
Reaching SPA before 6 April 2010
The full BSP is £95.25 per week and is payable if you have
39 qualifying years.
The minimum you can get is 25% of the full BSP. To get the
minimum BSP, you will need to have at least 10 qualifying
years. You will get a proportion of the full BSP of between
25% and 100%, depending on the number of qualifying years you
have.
Reaching SPA on or after 6 April 2010
The number of qualifying years required to get the full BSP will
reduce to 30 for those reaching SPA on or after 6 April 2010.
There will no longer be a minimum requirement. You will
therefore receive a proportionate BSP for the number of qualifying
years your have. So, if you have 5 qualifying years, you will
receive a BSP of 5/30ths of the full amount.
Claiming on a husband's record
If you do not qualify for a full BSP in your own right on
reaching your SPA, you may be able to claim a higher amount based
on your husband's NI contributions. You may be able to get a BSP of
up to 60% of his. If he receives the full BSP, this equates
to £57.05 (in 2009/10).
If you are claiming on your husband's record, you cannot receive
the BSP until your husband starts drawing his. So, if you are
over SPA and your husband has not yet reached his, you will receive
a BSP based on your own NI contribution record until he claims his.
However, you can get any Additional State Pension you are
entitled to from your SPA, regardless of your husband's
circumstances.
Adult Dependency Increase (ADI)
If your husband receives some BSP and you are financially
dependent on him, he may be able to get extra BSP. You must be
under SPA yourself to be classed as dependent on your
husband. If you are living together, your husband will not be
paid extra BSP if you have earnings or State benefits of
£64.30 per week or more (in 2009/10). If you are living
apart, you cannot have earnings of more than £57.05 per week
(in 2009/10).
Deferral
It is possible to defer claiming your BSP. When you eventually
decide to claim your pension, it will be higher than it would have
been had you claimed it at your SPA. Click here to read more about deferral.
State Pension Age (SPA)
The SPA for women is currently 60.
However, the government has introduced changes, which come into
force from 6 April 2010.
- Between 2010 and 2020, the SPA for women will increase to 65 to
ensure equality. Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1955
are affected by this change.
- Between 2024 and 2026, 2034 and 2036 and 2044 and 2046, the SPA
for both men and women will rise to 66, 67 and 68,
respectively. Those born after 6 April 1959 are affected by
these changes.
Future changes
The government has announced changes
to the State Pension. The changes affect the age the State
Pension can be claimed, the number of qualifying years required to
claim the full Basic State Pension, flexibility for those claiming
a pension based on a spouse's record, how Home Responsibilities
Protection is calculated and the way pensions are uprated.
Click here for information about the
changes.
Q & A's
If you are unsure of what your pension will be from the State
and you have not yet reached State Pension age you can contact the
Retirement Forecast Team on 0845 3000 168 to obtain a State Pension
forecast. The sooner you get this information, the sooner you can
plan for your retirement.
If you have not paid or been credited with enough NI
contributions it may be possible for you to make voluntary NI
contributions so that you at least receive a reduced basic State
Pension. It is worth looking into paying voluntary NI contributions
and you should ask your local pension centre or social security
office if you are eligible to pay any further NI contributions to
enable you to enhance, or qualify for, a basic State Pension.
Please bear in mind that you can normally only go back 6 tax years
from the date in which the contributions were due. Exceptionally
there is a group of women who have an exception (please see section
on Voluntary Contributions under our State Pensions section). For
these women the time limit for unpaid contributions in the tax
years 1996/1997 through to 2001/2002 is 5 April 2009 (for women who
reach state pension age on or after 24 October 2004). For women who
reach state pension age before this date the time limit is 5 April
2010.
Any contributions you pay after reaching State Pension age in
respect of years when you had arrears of NI contributions cannot
normally count for payment of State Pension from a date earlier
than the day on which you actually pay the contributions. For more
information get hold of leaflet CA07, Unpaid and late paid
contributions, on 0845 900 0404.
It may be that in certain situations it may not be worth your
while to pay voluntary NI contributions, for example if the amount
you contribute only earns you an amount equal to the basic State
Pension that you could claim already based on your husband's
contributions. Please contact us at TPAS for further guidance.
You should be aware that if you paid Married Women's
Reduced-Rate contributions for the whole of your working lifetime
then this does not entitle you to a basic State Pension in your own
right. However you may be able to claim Pension Credit (see section
entitled Pension Credit) as this is based on you and your partner's
income and capital and not dependent on your NI contribution
record.
See also Voluntary NI
Contributions in our state pensions section.
