when the time comes, will my wife be entitled to state pension as she pays national insurance and how long do you have to pay in for to get anything
?

When she gets ILR and sTarts working she will build up her credits. I believe they are lowering the amount of qualifying years needed for a pension. If she is not working then she must still sign on fir NI Contributions, also if you have children you get "free years". follow link
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/workage/
Regards
neil

http://www.direct.gov.uk/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/PensionsAn...=10014671&chk=o2zBUdand here http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/retirement.asp#howmuch has the information. If the first two links don't see you off, carry on chasing links until your head spins

You need 90% of your possible annual contributions to have been made to qualify for a full state pension, that's 90% of 49 years for most people (16 to retirement age). If you are jobseeking or looking after dependents, including children, you get credits. I beleive you can make extra payments to make up a shortfall. It is VERY IMPORTANT to investigate this if you fall short of the contributions, eg. take early retirement.

What's probably more important for your wife is that you need 25% of the possible contributions to get anything. After that, it is a sliding scale.

Don't be too disheartened though, the basic state pension is fairly meaningless anyway unless you have a good alternative pension, in which case it is a good top up. The reason it is meaningless is because There is a Guarantee Credit that takes you up to £114 and full basic state pension is £85. You have to be really careful with savings over £6,000 or additional pensions with low returns as anything which generates less than £29 a week will just disappear in reduced Guarantee Credit.

These really are very generalised comments and you should get proper advice if you feel you drop into one of the grey areas.

BigRed

Following on from Big Red -

I recently got a state Govt pension e-forecast and found out that I have several missing years.

However, when I contacted the Dept of Work/Pensions helpline to enquire how to make up for the short-fall I was told NOT to make up the missing payments (via class 3 NI contributions) as the amount of qualifying years (currently 44 for UK male) is to be slashed within this Govt to "just" 30 yrs.

Whether or not it happens at the end of the day may save me £££ now, but by the time I reach "state" retirement age, the goalposts would have probably moved again.

alvin

Will they give me 14 years refund?

What happens when your thai spouse is on a settlement visa and paying Nat.ins.?
Reading the above implies that they shouldn,t pay N.I until ILR is granted..I,m getting really confused about all of this

quote:

Reading the above implies that they shouldn,t pay N.I until ILR is granted

Which bit above are you refering to? I suspect the answer is that if you are workingyou pay NI. Don't forget it doesn't only go towards pensions.

BigRed

Thanks everybody for all comment. She won't be eligible for about 30 years anyway. Although the current pension isn't worth much, it would go a lot further in LOS which is where we intend to be at that time so it could be a nice little bit extra for her.

Hi Big Red,
Neil and Mook stated in the 2nd post that N.I. contributions only count when the person is on ILR;or did I misunderstand
My wife has been here 7 mths(working about 3 mths)so is still on a FLR visa;do the contributions she is paying now not count for anything?

I can't see anything definite about this. It's a bit acedemic anyway as you can't choose wether to pay it or not. You would have to contact the pensions service and ask them for a quote.

BigRed

quote:

Originally posted by alvin:
Following on from Big Red -

I recently got a state Govt pension e-forecast and found out that I have several missing years.

However, when I contacted the Dept of Work/Pensions helpline to enquire how to make up for the short-fall I was told NOT to make up the missing payments (via class 3 NI contributions) as the amount of qualifying years (currently 44 for UK male) is to be slashed within this Govt to "just" 30 yrs.

Whether or not it happens at the end of the day may save me £££ now, but by the time I reach "state" retirement age, the goalposts would have probably moved again.

alvin

Very interesting! I hope this comes off, because ive been informed that if i carry on paying my stamps until retirement age, I will only get 85% state pension.This is because in my 20`s I worked seasonal (going to Thailand for the winter..................ah happy days!), anyway I contacted Newcastle who advised me about only geting 85% pension. Also I couldnt payback , as apparently it is only possible to pay back for "the last six years".
Obviously I hope this comes true, because the I will get my full pension.Which is fair enough to me, as I know people who have never worked! , yet they will get more state pension than me! So no matter how much spin anybody puts on that .."it just aint fair!"

Not to sound on a too depressing note, if you pass away your Spouse is entitled to a pension of 60% of the State Benefit regards of their (your Spouce's) NI/Tax contributions, as it is based on the partner's record. In my case I've worked for over 20 years so by the time 2010 rolls around I'll have full entitlement.

Which is nice if your partner wants to end their days in LOS. You made not be around any longer but you are still able to help.

I think you might both have to retired for the above to come into force, can anyone confirm?

Not too sure but I think the widow gets £1000.00 to bury you also. not kidding!

quote:

When she gets ILR and sTarts working she will build up her credits.

Actually she starts building up her record as soon as she starts paying National Insurance Contributions. When she gets ILR is nothing to do with an entitlement to state pension.

We just got a letter from the "NI Dept" saying that the wives contributions from the first year she started working?arrived are x amount short - do we wish to pay??

What would the advantage in paying be - especially as they say the pension qualifying time may move down to 30 years??

PS What is the minimum time to qualify for any amount of pension? as will probaly won't be living in the Uk by the time we retire!!

-Any advice appreciated Skippy

As I understand it, it depends on her age and how long until retirement,

If she will qualify for the full pension anyway without paying these voluntary contributions then there is no point in paying them.

Otherwise you have to decide if the increased pension then is worth the extra payment now.