If you’ve not made enough National Insurance contributions to get a full basic state pension, you can top them up.
Many women lose out on a full basic state pension because they haven’t paid enough National Insurance contributions and in some cases, you can top up your NI without handing over a penny.
It can come as a big shock to people – and it’s mainly women who lose out – that they won’t get a full state pension when they retire. The amount you get is based on how much National Insurance you’ve paid (or been credited for if you’ve spent time bringing up your children, been out of work or acting as a carer). You can go back and make extra, voluntary National Insurance contributions to plug the gap, but many women don’t realise they can do this. And for one group of people, if you act by April 5th, you can top up your National Insurance for free.
New rules introduced in April have made it easier for carers to qualify for a state pension.
Hundreds of thousands of carers don’t currently qualify for credits towards their state pension, but that’s about to change.
Updated 7th April 2010.
Many people – mostly women – fail to qualify for a full basic state pension because they don’t pay enough National Insurance contributions. And one of the biggest groups to lose out are carers. If you give up work to look after your children, you can effectively get credited for those years, but under the current system, it’s much harder for carers to qualify. They need to claim a benefit called Carer’s Allowance to trigger credits for National Insurance contributions, which many carers aren’t entitled to receive. But on April 6th, the rules changed and anyone caring for someone for 20 hours a week or more will get credits towards their state pension.
How to increase your state pension using your husband’s National Insurance record.
Many women don’t realise that they have the right to claim a state pension based on their husband’s National Insurance record, even if they’re divorced.
Updated 6th April 2010.
Government figures show that around 50% of women don’t get the full basic state pension when they retire. OK so the state pension may not be a fortune at around £97 a week, but for many people (especially women) it’s the bedrock of the money they live on in retirement. The reason that so many women miss out on the full pension is that they don’t have a full National Insurance record. What you may not realise is that you can claim a pension, worth up to 60% of the full state pension, based on your husband’s NI record and you can still do it even if you’re divorced.
