Joints beginning to creak a little? Looking forward to taking this a bit easier? Read on....
8 August 2016
Over the next few weeks about 100,000 people in their 50s will get a letter from HM Government telling them they won't qualify for any State Pension.
(Read that again, and let it sink in for a moment)
Changes to the State Pension were introduced on 6 April 2016.
The new State Pension requires a minimum of 10 years National Insurance contributions.
This means that many housewives or stay-at-home parents are likely to find that they haven't worked for long enough and therefore haven't paid enough NI contributions because you need 35 or more qualifying years of NI contributions to get a full State Pension.
If you’ve got between 10 and 35 qualifying years, you’ll get a proportion of the full State Pension.
If you’ve got under 10 years, you usually won’t get anything.
Letters are being sent by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to thousands of people to warn them that they may not have enough qualifying years; this means they are likely to have no entitlement to any State Pension at all
(Read that again, and let it sink in)
This letter is being sent out by our caring (conservative) government because of the confusion they've caused - there used to be a 10-year minimum rule up to 5th April 2010, when it was scrapped. Then it was re-introduced with the new rules on April 6th this year.
This means that anyone who reached retirement age between April 2010 and April 2016 who worked for a minimum of one year was entitled to some State Pension.
(Read that again, and try to let that sink in)
The new State Pension rules only apply to people who reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.
If you reached State Pension age before that, you will be claiming under the old system (basic and additional State Pension), even if you deferred your claim.
If you're over 18 you can find out more about your State Pension by going to the new Check your State Pension service.
This will give you a personalised estimate of what you should recieve, based on your NI record (it can show up any gaps in your NI contributions and give you an idea of whether any gaps can be filled by voluntary cintributions).
We wouldn't be surprised.
Now if you think this is grossly unfair - don't forget these changes are thought to be most likely to affect older women who took on the
The Queen is 90
