Some married women in their 60s-70s are stuck with tiny pensions, because they didn’t pay all the National Insurance contributions that they could have when they were working. The lower rate of NI was called the Married Woman’s Stamp, and was available to many working married women until 1977. But many who took it were not aware of how it would affect their pension when they retired.
The Telegraph offers the following suggestions, if you think you might be affected –
“Check your National Insurance record and state pension entitlement. This is free and can now be easily done online at gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record and gov.uk/check-state-pension… This will tell you if you paid the reduced rate and how much state pension you are entitled to as a result… If you are still working, you can opt out of the lower rate by filling out a form called CF9. Women currently in their late 50s might have planned to retire around now… But changes to the state pension age mean that they actually have another nine years until they are eligible for the state pension… This has been the subject of concerted campaigning by Women Against State Pension Inequality, which argues that the change was poorly communicated and is leaving women out of pocket by thousands of pounds.”