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Frequently
Asked Questions
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How do
I get a pension forecast?
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ONLINE: An
application can be downloaded from the Pension Service Website.
Click here to find out more.
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PHONE:
You can call the State Pension Forecasting Team on 0845 300 0168.
They can fill in the form with you over the phone.
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WRITE:
to the State Pension Forecasting Team at Room TB001, Tyneview Park,
Whitley Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1BA.
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How
can I find out how much I have paid in National Insurance Contributions?
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Write to:
Inland Revenue, Data Protection Unit, Room BP 4302, Longbenton, Newcastle
upon Tyne, NE98 1ZZ.
You need
to request a copy of your National Insurance Contributions computer record
under the Data Protection Act. State your National Insurance number,
full name and date of birth.
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Will I
get a state pension at sixty?
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The first
step to finding out what your pension is likely to be when you reach 60 is
to request a pension forecast (see above).
In order
to gain a full state pension (currently £77.45 per week), a woman must
have paid FULL RATE National Insurance Contributions for 39 years. For
every year that she has paid incomplete or no contributions, or has paid
the married woman's stamp, her pension entitlement is reduced. For
less than 10 years worth of full contributions, she will receive no
pension in her own right at all.
Women who
have paid the married woman's stamp will receive a pension on their
husband's contributions, but this will not be until he reaches 65.
This "married woman's pension" will be 60% of the full pension (i.e.
currently £46.35 per week). The principle behind this is that a
married couple will share certain costs such as fuel and mortgage/rent
payments, and so need only 160% of a single person's pension to live on,
rather than 200%.
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What
is Home Responsibilities Protection?
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From 1978, women who stayed
at home to undertake caring responsibilities – such as looking after their
children – instead of going out to work, had their
National Insurance contribution records protected, so that they did not
miss out on contribution years. This
protects a woman's entitlement to a state pension – but only
if she was paying full rate NI contributions
immediately before she stopped working to take up her
caring responsibilities.
A woman who was paying
reduced rate NICs before she stopped work would not be entitled to HRP.
However, from 1977, a woman who was out of the labour market for more than
two years forfeited her right to continue paying the reduced rate once she
returned to work. In theory, if she did not
return to work after two years, she would become
entitled to HRP, and would start having her pension
rights protected.
Before
1978, HRP did not exist, so that before that date, women who had paid the
full rate of National Insurance before they stopped working would not have
had their pension rights protected.
For
more details about how the pensions system works,
click
here to go to the Pension
Service website.
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