Women and their Pension Explained – Complex Made Clear

Who should check their State Pension?

be on the new state pension system and therefore none of this will apply to you. Also some of the groups I’ll mention here may overlap into other groups; it is entirely possible that you could fall into more than one category. I’ll also outline which groups should take urgent action. See the list below:

• A woman who got divorced AFTER retiring and who hasn’t got their pension reassessed.
• A woman whose husband turned 65 before 17^th March 2008 and who is being paid less than 60% of their husband’s basic state pension.
• Those women who made a phone claim, these groups won’t automatically get their pensions topped up.
• Those who should receive their top-ups automatically however the Government is responsible for reviewing pension records but failed to do so.
• This includes if you are:
• A widow whose husband died after April 2008 and who is being paid less than 60% of her husband’s state pension while he was still alive.
• A widow whose state pension did not increase when their husband died.
• Someone who is 80 plus and isn’t being paid at least £80.45 per week in state pension.

Women who URGENTLY need to check and reclaim if they think they are missing out.

Many women who have been underpaid will now see their payments boosted automatically however; there are still many who will have to phone up to make a claim. Here I’ll list the persons who have to actively make a claim.

• The list below is if you are a married woman where all will apply.
• A woman came to state pension age before April 2016
• A woman whose state pension is less than 60% of her husband’s basic state pension.
• A woman’s husband turned 65 before 17^th March 2008
• Married women who came to state pension age before April 2016 but get less than 60% of their husband’s basic state pension are entitled to boost up to that magical 60% figure.
• The basic state pension as of April 2021 will be £137.65 per week. Your husband may get more than this in top-ups. You need to compare his state pension with your state pension for this.

In WW2 the state pension was set up. Men were typically the primary earners and women didn’t work for as many years so therefore women were given a proportion of their husband’s state pension. This continued until 6^th April 2016. Those who hit state pension age before this date could have been entitled to a boosted pension amount, but yet this might not have happened for many women including those women whose husbands turned 65 before 17^th March 2008.

The boosted payout was NOT automatic and you needed to claim it. However, many women didn’t know about this and so they missed out on the increase. If you are in this group you will have to make a claim. There is only one exception to this and that is if your husband was already 65 by the time you hit state retirement age. In that case the DWP will contact you for the boost.

One further point to mention here are backdated claims. It is only possible to get backdated payment for the boosted amount for up to 12 months. Some women in this group are challenging this rule with the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

More information

If you are a divorced woman who got divorced after retiring you should have benefited from your ex-husband’s National Insurance Record. Equally if you are a retired woman who was married but now divorced you can substitute the National Insurance Record of your ex-husband for your own up to the date of your divorce, provided you did not remarry before you retired. This means you may be eligible for an increased state pension potentially up to 100% which would be £137.65 per week. However, if the divorce took place after retirement you will NOT get an automatic top up; instead you will need to make a claim.

Backdated Claims

These claims cannot be backdated. If you are the heir of a woman who was underpaid state pension while still alive and has since died it is possible to claim on behalf of the woman who died. This could potentially apply to many of the categories mentioned above. For example if a woman was affected by the DWP computer error and didn’t know she could claim a boosted pension as she was married, or was a widow whose pension wasn’t increased when her husband died etc… It is best to contact the Pension Service if unsure.

To backdate a claim it depends on what grounds you are claiming on. It is best to check if you have been underpaid and are owed. Contact the Pension Service and ask about your personal situation. Data suggests that about 200,000 women could be owed an average payout of £13,500. The DWP is now systematically working its way through pension records to find out who has been underpaid due to its errors. Unfortunately there is no time frame and it could take months.

One Final Point

If you are a woman aged over 80 and get a state pension of less than £80.45 per week, whether you are married, widowed, divorced or single you may be eligible for a very little known ‘Category D’ non-contributory state pension. This is a pension that isn’t dependent on the National Insurance contributions you or your spouse may have made. This will top up your pension to £80.45 per week.

To qualify, you’ll need to satisfy a simple residence test and so must meet the following requirements:

• You must have been living in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, a European Economic Area country or Switzerland on your 80^th
• You must have lived in England, Scotland or Wales for at least 10 years in any 20 years period after your 60^th
• This type of pension is not gender-specific, so it is possible men may be able to claim this too.

So to clarify if you already get a state pension, you don’t need to make another claim for this as this should have happened automatically, so the DWP will now give you an automatic top-up if you were paid too little. However if, for whatever reason, you’re not getting a state pension at all at the moment, you’ll need to make a claim.