Can someone explain why I don't get a full State Pension please?

Isummer have you looked to see if you qualify for pension credit?

I took my state pension last year, but because of the years being contracted out it would not have been a full pension.
It was explained to me if I paid £3978 lump sum of missing NI contributions I could have an extra £25 per week state pension. I did this so I have to live 3 years beyond pension age to be quids in.
I get about £3 a week less than the maximum, not sure why.

Pension changes that were mentioned on the TV news or in the newspapers passed me by as I had neither a television nor did I buy a daily paper. I lived abroad for several years and also worked in local government (contracted out) so working out my projected pension was not easy. I went through the Gateway site and eventually I paid the extra contributions to make up my state pension, but it still falls slightly short of the full pension. I need to live a few more years yet to get the full value of my extra contributions.

We’re keeping in with the children in the hope that all the money we spent on them for music lessons, driving lessons, school holidays, university fees, weddings etc. will bounce back ‘in kind’ during our senior years. Happily I don’t think they’ll see us starve. 🤣🤣

Joseann

Thank you OldFrill. Good advice to speak to someone who knows. It did cross my mind to try that, as long as they dont say I'm required to live until 100 to make it worthwhile! I also need to look on the French side of things, more for DH than for me, but something tells me there is a 10 year minimum to qualify which is longer than our 6 stay. Their bureaucracy is mind-boggling too.
Looks like I'll have an interesting New Year researching this!
AskAlice from what I've quickly read you should receive the full amount.

I wasn’t expecting DH and me to qualify for a German pension, Joseann, but we did. We worked there for just 2 years and had been told at the time that those years’ contributions would count towards our British pension and that we’d need to work over there for 5 years to qualify for anything at all from the German system.

However, when I applied for my state pension online there was a question asking whether I’d ever worked abroad, then for the dates and country. When I answered yes, the DWP sent me a form to fill in which they then sent over to Germany. It took about 6 months, and a few letters back and forth to Germany (also not known for its lack of bureaucracy!), but I eventually got a small pension. I knew I was nearly there when I was asked for my bank details.

DH retired 6 years before I did, under the old UK pension system, and had never had the form, so he rang up the DWP and asked for one. And he got his German pension weeks before I did.

Primrose53

Haven’t read all this thread but has anybody mentioned what happens to your state pension when you die?

My SIL died aged 66 and was entitled to the New State Pension. She received just two monthly payments and she died suddenly. So that was that. All her years of working and paying in went down the pan. They wrote to her husband and asked him to repay the second month’s payment as she had passed away before it arrived. He did send them a cheque but then we read that you don’t have to but it was too late.

It stops.

Joseann

Thank you OldFrill. Good advice to speak to someone who knows. It did cross my mind to try that, as long as they dont say I'm required to live until 100 to make it worthwhile! I also need to look on the French side of things, more for DH than for me, but something tells me there is a 10 year minimum to qualify which is longer than our 6 stay. Their bureaucracy is mind-boggling too.
Looks like I'll have an interesting New Year researching this!
AskAlice from what I've quickly read you should receive the full amount.

You're right about the bureaucracy in France - far worse than in the UK. A friend who has lived here for 32 years has been battling with them for about 18 months. One of her former employers deducted tax etc but did not pay it over. They have taken several weeks to reply on occasion and have mislaid documents too.

So make sure that you take several copies of documents just in case some things get mislaid. Also post tracked and recorded delivery if you can from England or LRAR if in France

That’s really heartless, Primrose. It must have been horrible for your brother.

I guess that if we were all guaranteed X years of pension it would cost too much to pay at the level people get now, so it is averaged out.

Haven’t read all this thread but has anybody mentioned what happens to your state pension when you die?

My SIL died aged 66 and was entitled to the New State Pension. She received just two monthly payments and she died suddenly. So that was that. All her years of working and paying in went down the pan. They wrote to her husband and asked him to repay the second month’s payment as she had passed away before it arrived. He did send them a cheque but then we read that you don’t have to but it was too late.

I don't think you sound ungrateful, Whiff, but I think you could be looking at things in a way that makes you feel bad, instead of realising that your husband's contributions did pay for things that have benefited you. Nobody gets their husband's pension nowadays, however many contributions he makes.

Whiff Please don’t ever feel that you should shut up.

I just thought I’d highlight (for the umpteenth time - it’s a mission of mine 😂) Specified Adult Childcare Credits. To put it simply, anyone below state pension age who is not working but cares for a child under 12, eg a grandchild, while their parent works, even for just a few hours, can claim NI credits towards their own pension, which is a great alternative to buying in extra years. Perhaps it could help you, AskAlice? The claim form is straightforward.

www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-specified-adult-childcare-credits

If this helps just one person, my work here is done.

I know I sound ungrateful. But it's nearing what you have been my husband's 67th birthday ,the anniversary of our first date and the day he died. And feeling it worst this year.

I know his contributions have helped others. But when he was terminal he was refused DLA because they said he had been given years and the woman put the phone down on him . Only our McMillan nurse filling in the forms got him DLA my husband had been given 4 months to 2 years he didn't live the 4 months. I got carers allowance for him just from when he was terminal until he died still remember how much £43.10.

When my mom lived with me last 18 months of her life she had cancer and dementia I was only allowed 6 months carers allowance because I was told my mom would get better by DWP. Mind you it had gone up to £62.20 .

My brother is carer for his wife and father in law who lives with them but can only get carers allowance for this wife. Which will stop next year when he gets his state pension. My sister in law doesn't get her state pension until 2028.

When in 2017 I had jaundice and was serious ill for 5 months I was refused any help because I owned my own house . Told if I rented I could have help free for 6 weeks twice a day. Which is even more galling when my gastrologist discharged me he told me people with my bilirubin levels normally die

If I rented I could get more things once I get my state pension but I own my bungalow.

At least the council I am under men and women once they reach 60 get a free bus/ local rail pass and can even be used on the ferry. So I had it once I moved here I was 61. And it's been invaluable . Plus cost of living is cheaper having a water meter has saved me money as I only pay just over £28 a month instead of the just over £160 I paid at my old house.

I will shut up now.

I'm not saying the benefits you've had have been generous, Whiff - benefits aren't - but that if looking at things as meaning that your late husband's life's work amounts to £750 is upsetting for you, you could look at it that his contributions helped towards paying for his healthcare, yours, and that of others, as well as for unemployment benefits and UC, and things like the bereavement support grant that you got when he died. In fact, his contributions have benefited you a lot, which I am sure is what he would have wanted.

The old SP was inheritable, but is lower than the new one, so whereas you might have inherited some of the pension your husband had accrued, it wouldn't have been at as high a rate as the one you will get now.

If you can find any payslips from before April 2016 and the category letters are either D, E, L, N or O then you were contracted out. As far as I’m aware, the rules on contracting out changed after April 2016 and you would have been contracted in from that point.

I wish I had been aware from an early age but I wasn`t and am in the position of having to rely on what is actually given. I get the paperwork each year and I file it away, wish I had done that from 55 years ago but so be it

I see the old state pension on my yearly statement, £156 pw or £8112 pa and I also could weep. I did get a letter to pay over £21,000 if I wanted an extra £25 per week. I did it, after working out that I needed to live 14 years. That £25 is now £30 and goes into the taxable melting pot.

Doodledog is absolutely correct Whiff. Your husband’s NI paid for his healthcare and you too have, I expect, received much care from the NHS and continue to do so. You have not worked since 1988 but you are getting a full pension at the new rate. Don’t you reckon that’s pretty good?

Doodledog I will be getting the full state pension, as my birthday is end of April with get the new payment .

When my husband died the only thing I got was £2,000 from the DWP to help towards the funeral. But we already put the money aside from that . And I didn't have to pay tution when my son went uni. And that was all I got . Other than the £800 bill from DWP they said my husband owed them which arrived 2 weeks after he died which I paid. Was to upset to query it at the time . To late now.

His private pensions paid lump sum apart from one which I get £29.56 per month and it's been the same amount since he died.

I haven't been able to work since 1988 so lived on what my husband left that money ran out long ago but inherited half my mom's estate.

Took me 35 years fighting to finally get disability benefits which I was awarded last year but only because I went to PIP tribunal and only then because the Brain Charity got me a solicitor pro bono. Had to wait over a year to get too the tribunal but they where lovely. The rotters at PIP gave me zero on everything. But the tribunal gave me enhanced living and enhanced mobility indefinitely and back dated until March 2022 when I asked for the forms . The tribunal is a court so the ruling means they can't take it off me . The solicitor the Brain Charity told me I was entitled to UC so I applied and got that last March and the lovely case worker at my interview said it would be phone appointments as she wasn't having me struggle to come in again and sent off for the health forms. I had a face to face assessment as after my experience with the PIP phone assessment and after getting a copy of her report I knew she hadn't listen to me. I got the UC health part. Both will stop when I get my pension. But having them and the PIP means for the first time since my husband died I am not worried about money as I don't have to dip into my savings every month to pay bills . Which are less than £6,000.

The lump sum I had from PIP doesn't count as income so that's safely in a high interest account . I used some to treat myself to 2 dehumidifiers ,new raincoat and paid for my holiday in May my first holiday since 2005. Only reason I went then my husband made me promise to go on holiday year after he died. Never been on holiday by myself or even walked into a pub on my own . I was 46 and went to York for 4 days did lot of firsts but was terrified .

I assume that you’ll be getting the new pension as you are retiring now, Whiff. That is based on your own contributions and is higher than the old one. Your husband’s NI will have contributed to his healthcare, and to yours, so he didn’t work for nothing. It’s not just for pensions.

If he had an occupational pension it probably had provision for dependents (or a non-dependent nominated person) and you would have been eligible for that from a young age. The state pension is different.

Yesterday had my letter to apply for my state pension in April and there was a code to use so applied online must say it was very straight forward.

But also had a letter about my husband's state pension stated again I will get 48p a week for his 30 years of paying full NI. Must stay I got upset and phoned the number on the letter but it wasn't who I needed to talk to so the man sent the team my details and they will phone me.

It's nearing the 20th anniversary of my husband's death so never a good time for me. When I worked it out my husband's 30 years of paying and he paid a lot as he had a good salary so his life's work amounts to £748.80.

To think all the hours he worked for 30 years plus he used to bring work home and for what. Who is getting my husband's NI contributions because it isn't me.

We married in 1981 he was born in 1957 and died 2004 aged 47. He always thought I would inherit large part of his state pension when I got mine. He didn't choose to die and now it feels like a punishment because he died young. 😢

Had my pension forecast yesterday and was surprised with the amount..But they must employ comedians at DWP as it said if I paid a year's voluntary NI I would get a penny extra a week. I get my state pension April.

Now I have my letter I can see about claiming some of my late husband's pension.
My husband died in 2004 and had paid full NI for 30 years . Which at the time qualified you for full state pension. He was 47. I was told last year I would get half his pension on the phone but the letter stated I would get 48p a week..

See what I get told today as the man I spoke to too get my forecast told me who to contact once I had my forecast letter. He was very helpful. Even told me which options to press.

It's a gamble!
Sure is, I'd need to live for about 10 years. Longevity isn't on my side in terms of my ancestors, but who knows?!

It doesn’t make any difference to the number of years but it makes a difference to how much you receive.

I had 43 years, some of which were contracted out, and I was told that contracting out made no difference to the amount of years counting towards pension as I was paying NI contributions.

I did not join the pension scheme in one job and it wasn't until the company went into liquidation that I realised that I had lost out. I joined the company pension scheme immediately in my next job as it was explained that by not joining I would, in effect, be taking a pay cut as the company would not be contributing towards my DB pension.

Joseann

I contacted the Pension Department regarding my shortfall and the possibility of topping it up. The amount was nearly £9k which seemed a lot just to get an extra £20 a week. I don't think I'll bother.

It's a gamble!

Re ‘cannot top up etc’. I was told that if I had issues with the amount I was receiving then I could top it up. This seems to contradict what you were told. I’d paid in for 37 years, I didn’t feel like giving them any more.
It doesn't contradict anything, as people's circumstances are different, and the rules are complex. You can top up missing years between some dates and not others, so a lot depends on when your 37 years were, and why you are short.

In my case, I have over 40 years of NI, but was 6 years short, because some of those years were contracted out. So far I have paid back five of them, and I will pay the final one before my SPA so that I get a full pension. I also feel that I have paid in enough, particularly as many don't pay in at all, but the system isn't going to change because I am indignant, and there is no point in cutting off my nose to spite my face. It's always a gamble on longevity, but the gap between my predicted pension was over £30 a week, and now it's only about £4.

I contacted the Pension Department regarding my shortfall and the possibility of topping it up. The amount was nearly £9k which seemed a lot just to get an extra £20 a week. I don't think I'll bother.