Widows Pension Uk

[djc45]

am under 65 and not yet getting my state pension.

if i marry a none uk residant before i reach 65 will she be entitled to a widows pension from the uk when i die and will i get the married mans pension

i have no plans on returning to the uk or getting her uk residentship

[astral]

I have wondered the same thing.

I assume you still pay your National Insurance contributions, even though you are outside the UK?

[Neeranam]

Surely they would give you a hard time with this one. What if you marry an 18 year old, die at 66. That's a lot of money from the British Goverment if she lives to be 99.

I believe that she wouldn't get anything from the state pension, although I know some guys with private pensions that allow this.

Good Luck.

[paulsmithson]

my Thai wife has lived in the uk for almost 20 years and she is entitled to a pension despite the fact that she is not british.

Although not yet at retirement age I have also been informed by the pensions service that I wil get a married mans pensions when i reach age 65.

Pensions here have a very good web site and a teephone contact number and the rues concerning contributions are changing.

Wel worth checking with them-they are very helpful

[JohnC]

The pension rules in UK are very complex and based on contributions from the tax year that you reached 16 to the tax year before you reach 65 and you need a contribution record of 90% to draw the maximum pension. This can be paid outside the UK but if you are in a non EEA country like Thailand you do not receive the annual increases. I am led to believe you can claim a married couples pension on production of your marrige certificate interestingly they now also recognise gay partnerships therefore in theory the same rules apply. I am currntly in correspondence with the Dept of pensions as they are reviewing the current regulations and I intend to challenge the non payment of the annual increase given I have contributed the maximum number of years and continue to pay tax on my UK pension (services).

Further information can be found at: http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/home.asp

Hope this helps

John C

[bendix]

I've also been in communication with them about this, thanks to a prompt from another thread on this board.

I found them very very helpful indeed. When i asked them what I needed to do to get my NI contributions back online, they told me my current position (11 years contributions out of a required maximum of 44), and what i needed to pay to make amends.

I'll be paying around 7 years of about 108 pounds per annum in April (only around 40,000 baht) to get me back online, then paying no more than 7000 per annum for the next few years to get fully qualified again.

I believe - someone better informed will confirm or challenge this - but there are plans to reduced the 44 years contributions requirement down to, I think, 30.

If so, all well and good :-)

[briley]

A widow only gets the full pension from when they reach pension age. They used to get a widows pension from the time their partner died but that was stoped, was it in 1996?

The Gov propose to change the law to 30 years contributions during the course of this parliment for those reaching retirement age in or after 2010.

Don't forget you get free stamps from age 60 to retirement age - but only if you are a UK resident and not working.

[Rinrada]

Postage stamps....

[djc45]

A widow only gets the full pension from when they reach pension age. They used to get a widows pension from the time their partner died but that was stoped, was it in 1996?

The Gov propose to change the law to 30 years contributions during the course of this parliment for those reaching retirement age in or after 2010.

Don't forget you get free stamps from age 60 to retirement age - but only if you are a UK resident and not working.

thanks for that info

so it will be when she is age 60 i think

[djc45]

I have wondered the same thing.

I assume you still pay your National Insurance contributions, even though you are outside the UK?

yes i inted to keep ni contributions up to date

[Lite Beer]

As said the plan is to change the years of needed contributions from 40 years to 30 years.

I sent an E Mail to the pension people and the reply I got was very uncomital. All ifs, buts, and maybes.

Whatever you are entitled to if anything I think you would need to register your marriage at the UK Embassy.

[briley]

Retirement age for women goes up to 65 over the period 2010-2020.

You do get the extra 2/3rds of your pension for being married even if your wife/husband is under retirement age, it is only the widows who get nothing if under retirement age.

[ThaiPauly]

I've also been in communication with them about this, thanks to a prompt from another thread on this board.

I found them very very helpful indeed. When i asked them what I needed to do to get my NI contributions back online, they told me my current position (11 years contributions out of a required maximum of 44), and what i needed to pay to make amends.

I'll be paying around 7 years of about 108 pounds per annum in April (only around 40,000 baht) to get me back online, then paying no more than 7000 per annum for the next few years to get fully qualified again.

I believe - someone better informed will confirm or challenge this - but there are plans to reduced the 44 years contributions requirement down to, I think, 30.

If so, all well and good :-)

This is also my understanding of how it works...though I belive you can leave the payments to the Pensions department as long as you like...as long as you pay your dues before you reach 65 you will be entitled to the full pension.

Personally although it is not much I am dithering...I have 13 years left to go...maybee I wont live that long

[briley]

You can normally only pay back 6 years. 2 years 'overdue' and you pay the rate for the year you're paying, if over 2 years ago then you pay the current, normally higher, rate.

Over 6 years and payments are not accepted.

Except there was a computer 'mistake' in the mid 1990's so these payments can be made later, up to around 2009

[interbrit]

You can normally only pay back 6 years. 2 years 'overdue' and you pay the rate for the year you're paying, if over 2 years ago then you pay the current, normally higher, rate.

Over 6 years and payments are not accepted.

Except there was a computer 'mistake' in the mid 1990's so these payments can be made later, up to around 2009

Re the computer error.

I was working overseas and making the NI payments by direct debit in the 90s. It was only about GBP10 a month so it was never noticed from my account. After several years I got a letter from them saying that "as you have failed to make the payments" I owed them a lump sum in back payments which "they were prepared to accept" by a certain date. No acknowledgement or apology for their c@ck-up but blamed it on me. Typical UK government department mentality which was added to the list of reasons why I left.

Rant over.

[briley]

Interbrit - a transfer of data from one computer to another failed and the original data deleated.

If you tell them you paid and have some sort of proof they accept that and credit you with the contributions. Think the minister did apologize in parliment at some time.

[interbrit]

Interbrit - a transfer of data from one computer to another failed and the original data deleated.

If you tell them you paid and have some sort of proof they accept that and credit you with the contributions. Think the minister did apologize in parliment at some time.

This does not explain why the direct debit was not continued after their error. The original data (all generations of back-up???) deleted before the transfer was confirmed is a huge IT error; did anyone's head roll for this? You can guess the answer to that one.

If the minister apologised in parliament why did their letter to me accuse me of "failing to pay" when the responsibilty was on them to collect?