When I was working I was always aware that I needed to pay National Insurance to guarantee that I would earn a pension in my own right. I worked around bringing up our family and looking after the home, always doing whatever it took to keep our heads above water. When I was made redundant at the age of 60 and couldn't find another job, I took my state pension. It turned out that I was only entitled to a 90% pension because of the couple of years I had to give up work to take care of my mother who was housebound. I had no money to make up missed contributions after she died.
As it stands now:
The old basic state pension is £137.60 rising to £141.85 in April (3.1% rise)
Had I been born a few years later with the same number of years working I would have received the new pension of £179.60 which will rise to £185.15
My current pension is £130 per week rising to £134.03 in April.
This means that I am worse off by £51.12 per week by being born in 1949 and taking time out to care for my mother who refused to let anyone else in the house to help. I feel penalized for 'doing the right thing' and the gap is widening every year.
I can't be the only one in this situation. Have you had a similar experience with unfair pension rights?
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I worked with my husband, he only paid a married woman stamp instead of the full stamp. I worked until I was 66/67 to make up some of the sbortfall.
ReplyDeleteGosh, Hester, that seems a bit shortsighted of him although, I guess, lots of women did the same thing. I intended to carry on working past 60 but redundancy put paid to my plans. I simply couldn't find another job to enable me to do it.
DeleteAs I was born in 1954 I was unable to retire at 60 as the government moved the goal posts and my new retirement age became 65 and 10 months so could not draw my pension until then. I had worked for many years after my family had grown up so got the full pension and it is the new pension but I missed out on over £30,000 of pension money that I would have had if I had been able to retire at 60.....and I could have had earnings as well as I didn't stop work until 2018. Many of my friends are just that bit older than me and could draw theirs at 60 and defer the pension whilst they kept on working. I feel for you in your position - If you qualified for the carer's allowance when you cared for your mum you are automatically entitled to class 1 Nat. Ins. credits - I don't know if you can get them retrospectively.
ReplyDeleteLike you I have missed outcome over£40k worth of pension. I will get mine in October. I retired from the Civil Service at 60 and needed to make up the missing years, so I claimed Specified childcare, which contributes class 1 Nat.insurance each year. (I claimed for 2 years in one go) I'm sure it's worth you ringing to find out if you can Carer's Allowance retrospectively. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The whole pension thing is dreadful. I thank heavens I paid extra into my civil service pension. My husband will get £218 a week state pension later this month!!
DeleteLike both of you, I'm going to miss out on tens of thousands, as my retirement age is 67 ( still 10 years to go, and bloody determined to live that long, as my dad died at 55 and never had a penny) ,and I have a shortfall due to them increasing the number of years needed, and not having the finances to buy them. I'll be able to claim specified childcare, as long as my daughter is able to pass them on to me when she returns to work after having the baby ( she's unsure about how many hours she'll do, and may herself need the NI credit that child benefit brings). Women seem to have been shafted completely where pensions are concerned.
DeleteThat is good to know, Scarlet, as I'm a few years short, also aged 57, and I look after my one year old granddaughter for 3 full days a week, so will look to see if I'm eligible. My daughter works 3 days in teaching so not sure how it works
DeleteYou are entitled to specified childcare. I've claimed it for 6 years. Forms are on line, you will need your daughters NI number and address to complete the form then she has to sign the printed copy.its worth £5 a week each year!
DeleteYour position in respect of the divide between old and new state pensions is stark - my wife, even with her SERPS additional pension is falling further behind younger we omen with just the new state pension. Also, something else not often highlighted is that SERPS pensions increase by less that the basic state pension, so she is being doubly disadvantaged.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your pension and I do hope that you may be able to claim for the important time that you were caring for your mother.
ReplyDeleteAll very annoying.
ReplyDeleteOver here in Canada, to get a "full" government pension everyone has to work till they are 65, gender played no part in it.
ReplyDeleteYou can claim any time after age 60 but it is known that you will be paid a smaller pension.
They tried to raise it to 67 but had to change their plans because it was done in such a manner that people objected. I fell into the new age group while a coworker who was born the day before me fell into the old!
With the pension goalposts being moved, I was able to claim my pension at 64 years 9 months but my friend, who is just 3 months older than me, got hers 9 months before me. Another friend who is 8 months older than me got their pension the best part of two years before me. It seems that there are lots of aspects of the system that are unfair, not just mine. There is also not a huge amount of information out there about how the system works. As Sue says - all very annoying.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame. I just spoke with my friend, and she is also hurting financially now, as she stopped working to take care of her sister and mother. Her sister died, and she took care of her nephew. Very sad. I didn't have a pension, but I did have stocks and have real estate. I am very fortunate, but that's because my parents invested well and I can live very frugally. Your system sounds dreadful for women. Suze Orman is telling women in America to work until they are 70. I think for this very reason.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to read about how the pension changes are affecting you. It certainly doesn't seem very fair, does it? Hopefully, though, you can still manage on your pension and the rise in cost of living doesn't cause things to become too difficult.
ReplyDeleteThat is a big shortfall and no doubts affects lots of others in similar circumstances, the whole pension thing is a nightmare isn't it.
ReplyDeleteI have worked straight through from being 16 (briefly claiming the childcare allowance when I was a full-time mum) and still pay my full stamp so as things stand when I retire at 66 and 1 month I will get the full amount as I already have enough stamps paid in my account now.