Will a Wife receive a Widows Pension from the UK Government.

[PFMills]

I never considered that my wife would receive a government Widows Pension even though she is a British Citizen, now aged sixty five.. She never worked when we lived in the UK neither did she have an NI Number.

 

A friend his circumstances are :-

Now living in Thailand with Full UK Pension, he is aged 75.

His wife lived in the UK and did get ILR and I believe had an NI Number

His wife has been out of the UK for a few years so will have lost her ILR, as I understand.  Someone can confirm?

His wife is well under pension age. 

 

He thinks that she will be entitled to a widows pension.

 

Can anyone advise on this as he needs to set up for the time when he is dust.

 

tks

Edited August 23, 2021 by PFMills

[Kwasaki]

This is how was explained to me when things changed.

 

If someone is a British citizen they will get a pension, the amount is determined on NI contributions.

 

If the Thai wife is legally married and also a British citizen then a proportion of the husbands pension will calculated to provide her with a pension.

 

A Thai wife legally married to an Englishman who is living and getting a UK pension in Thailand the best put him in the freezer and not pronounce them dead because they now get absolutely nowt from UK. 

[MartinL]

14 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

A Thai wife legally married to an Englishman who is living and getting a UK pension in Thailand the best put him in the freezer and not pronounce them dead because they now get absolutely nowt from UK. 

What are they suppose to do with cold and stiff blokes from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland? (Only kidding ???? ).

 

Looked into this for an 87 year old friend not too long ago. The upshot is that, as Kwasaki says, widows get <deleted>-all, unless they've earned a pension via NI contributions in their own right.

 

There 'used to be' a widow's pension - abolished. Bereavement Allowance - abolished so far as Thai widows are concerned. Perhaps also other 'used-to-bes' but all gone now.

 

 

[Eff1n2ret]

4 hours ago, PFMills said:

His wife has been out of the UK for a few years so will have lost her ILR, as I understand.  Someone can confirm?

To maintain ILR you have to be away from the UK for less than two years. 

Regarding pension, there is no widows state pension, and if you lived and worked in the UK you must have, as best I remember, at least ten years of contributions to qualify for a minimum pension. My wife fell a little short of that, so I bought extra years to top her up above the minimum. There is a limit to the extra years you can buy, but I can't remember what that is.

[Kwasaki]

13 minutes ago, PFMills said:

MartinL    does this also apply to us as my wife has a UK Passport as well as a Thai one, but never worked in the UK 

Is she a Brit citizen. 

[Kwasaki]

3 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

To maintain ILR you have to be away from the UK for less than two years. 

Regarding pension, there is no widows state pension, and if you lived and worked in the UK you must have, as best I remember, at least ten years of contributions to qualify for a minimum pension. My wife fell a little short of that, so I bought extra years to top her up above the minimum. There is a limit to the extra years you can buy, but I can't remember what that is.

For a minimum pension you need 35 years to get some kind 

pension is 10 years. 

[Denim]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

best put him in the freezer

I think an urn on top of the fridge would be more sensible.

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, Denim said:

I think an urn on top of the fridge would be more sensible.

But if your cooked maybe some Thai might report the death. ????

[scubascuba3]

Private pensions can go to the wife

[Eff1n2ret]

7 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

For a minimum pension you need 35 years

That's for the maximum, I think. This is what the DWP website says:-

To get the full basic State Pension you need a total of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits. This means you were either:

• working and paying National Insurance
• getting National Insurance Credits, for example for unemployment, sickness or as a parent or carer
• paying voluntary National Insurance contributions

If you have fewer than 30 qualifying years, your basic State Pension will be less than £137.60 per week but you might be able to top up by paying voluntary National Insurance contributions.

[Kwasaki]

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Private pensions can go to the wife

Not all that has to be arranged at the time to receive it. 

[Kwasaki]

18 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

That's for the maximum, I think. This is what the DWP website says:-

To get the full basic State Pension you need a total of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits. This means you were either:

• working and paying National Insurance
• getting National Insurance Credits, for example for unemployment, sickness or as a parent or carer
• paying voluntary National Insurance contributions

If you have fewer than 30 qualifying years, your basic State Pension will be less than £137.60 per week but you might be able to top up by paying voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Yeah understand min & max .????

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, PFMills said:

MartinL    does this also apply to us as my wife has a UK Passport as well as a Thai one, but never worked in the UK 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Please don't leave large empty spaces on your posts. I had to scroll through a very long way to get to the end of your post.

[BangkokReady]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

A Thai wife legally married to an Englishman who is living and getting a UK pension in Thailand the best put him in the freezer and not pronounce them dead because they now get absolutely nowt from UK. 

I seem to remember hearing about this when it changed many years ago.  They had some expat retiree chap on the radio saying "Who's going to look after my wife when I'm gone?"  What I thought was more likely the case was that part of the deal of him finding himself a pretty young Asian girl a third of his age, was that she would continue to get his pension after he copped it.

 

I think a quick village cremation and "accidentally" forget to tell ol' Blighty anything about it.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

best put him in the freezer and not pronounce them dead because they now get absolutely nowt from UK. 

I hope you are joking as that would probably be picked up when he didn't extend his visa, and the wife would IMO be in the doodoo.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I seem to remember hearing about this when it changed many years ago.  They had some expat retiree chap on the radio saying "Who's going to look after my wife when I'm gone?"  What I thought was more likely the case was that part of the deal of him finding himself a pretty young Asian girl a third of his age, was that she would continue to get his pension after he copped it.

 

I think a quick village cremation and "accidentally" forget to tell ol' Blighty anything about it.

They do occasionally ask for proof that one is still alive to continue sending the pension, probably for that very reason.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, PFMills said:

MartinL    does this also apply to us as my wife has a UK Passport as well as a Thai one, but never worked in the UK 

 

Surely a Pension should only be paid to someone who has contributed financially to the system.

Just because they are married or obtained a passport should not allow them to dip into the pot.

[CharlieH]

Reported post with format issues removed.

[KhaoYai]

25 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I hope you are joking as that would probably be picked up when he didn't extend his visa, and the wife would IMO be in the doodoo.

How would the UK authorities know he hadn't extended his visa?

 

If he'd married a much younger girl they might get a little suspicious if he was still claiming his pension when he was 125.

Edited August 23, 2021 by KhaoYai

[scubascuba3]

43 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Not all that has to be arranged at the time to receive it. 

it's something to explore anyway. My SIPP will be drawdown and if i die before it finishes it will go to my inheritors

[LongTimeLurker]

1 hour ago, Eff1n2ret said:

That's for the maximum, I think. This is what the DWP website says:-

To get the full basic State Pension you need a total of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits. This means you were either:

• working and paying National Insurance
• getting National Insurance Credits, for example for unemployment, sickness or as a parent or carer
• paying voluntary National Insurance contributions

If you have fewer than 30 qualifying years, your basic State Pension will be less than £137.60 per week but you might be able to top up by paying voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Can you post a link to that please.

 

When I checked the NI website last week it said you have to pay NIC up to retirement age.

[scubascuba3]

4 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

When I checked the NI website last week it said you have to pay NIC up to retirement age.

have you got a link for that?

[LongTimeLurker]

To answer the OP.

 

No, the wife can't get the husband's pension but she can get a Bereavement Benefit (2,000 Quid last time I checked).

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

What I thought was more likely the case was that part of the deal of him finding himself a pretty young Asian girl a third of his age, was that she would continue to get his pension after he copped it.

That is not exactly the case that guy you mention was thick, before the UK govt done away with Thai wife benefits a Thai wife would get benefits at death of her husband lasting up to 1 year after that in the case of my wife at the time she would of have to wait for her UK pension until she was 66 years old.

[LongTimeLurker]

31 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

have you got a link for that?

Can't find it now, thought it would be in my history but I did find Effin2ret's reference

 

"You’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the new full State Pension if you do not have a National Insurance record before 6 April 2016."

 

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/your-national-insurance-record-and-your-state-pension

 

But no mention of how many qualifying years if you have a prior record? Which I do.

 

This may explain it. https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by LongTimeLurker
Added another link

[Kwasaki]

32 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

To answer the OP.

 

No, the wife can't get the husband's pension but she can get a Bereavement Benefit (2,000 Quid last time I checked).

Not anymore.

[LongTimeLurker]

3 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Not anymore.

Wow, they even stole the 2,000 Quid away from spouses??

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Surely a Pension should only be paid to someone who has contributed financially to the system.

Just because they are married or obtained a passport should not allow them to dip into the pot.

Why not any UK wife can, a Thai wife can if she has become a British citizen it would be frozen though.

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

it's something to explore anyway. My SIPP will be drawdown and if i die before it finishes it will go to my inheritors

Yeah lots of different pension plans about.

[PFMills]

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Is she a Brit citizen. 

My wife is.  His wife isnt