Basic State Pension
A woman whether married or single is entitled to claim the basic State Pension on reaching State Pension age (currently age 60 for a woman) provided she has made the appropriate National Insurance (NI) contributions during the course of her working life.
The minimum basic State Pension you can get based on your own NI contributions is 25% of the full basic State Pension (the full basic State Pension is £90.70 in 2008/09). The years during which you build up your rights to the basic State Pension are called 'qualifying years'. To get a minimum basic State Pension you will need to have a minimum number of qualifying years for NI purposes – this is normally 10 years, although this will increase to 11 years by 2020 with the increase in the State Pension age for women. You will get a proportion of the full basic State Pension between 25% and 100% depending on the number of qualifying years you have.
If you do not qualify for a basic State Pension in your own right on reaching State Pension age you may be able to get a basic State Pension based on your husband's NI contributions. You may be able to get a basic State Pension of up to £54.35 (in 2008/09). You cannot receive a basic State Pension on your husband's NI contributions unless your husband is drawing his State Pension. So if you are over State Pension age and your husband has not yet reached 65, you may only get a basic State Pension based on your own NI contribution record. However, you can get any additional State Pension you are entitled to from age 60 regardless of your husband's circumstances. (See section entitled Additional State Pension).
If you are entitled to your own pension, but it is less than £54.35 (in 2008/09), your basic State Pension can be made up to a maximum of this amount when your husband starts to claim his State Pension.
If your husband receives some basic State Pension, and you are dependent on him he may be able to get extra basic State Pension for you. You must be under State Pension age yourself to be classed as dependent on your husband. If you are living together, your husband will not be paid extra State Pension if you have earnings or State benefits of £60.50 per week (in 2008/09). If you are living apart, you cannot have earnings of more than £54.35 per week (in 2008/09).
It is also possible that you can defer claiming your State Pension. When you eventually decide to claim your pension it will be higher than it would have been had you claimed it at State Pension age, see Deferral in the state pensions section.
You should also take into consideration that the State Pension age for women will increase gradually from 60 to 65 years between 2010 and 2020. If you were born on or before 6 April 1950, your State Pension age will be 60. If you were born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1955, your State Pension age will be between 60 and 65. If you were born on or after 6 April 1955 your State Pension age will be 65. To find out your State Pension age click here.
Please note that 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.
- How do I find out how much my state pension will be?
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.
- What if I have a gap in my qualifying record?
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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 gourp 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 OPAS 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 Contributions in our state pensions section.
Q & As
