contracted out

the mad woman · Post by **the mad woman** » 19 Jan 2018, 21:08

only a few years from retiring but I keep reading in the press if you have been contracted out at any point you will loose some from your state pension ive already got to work an extra 6 years as pension age for women has increased have we been contracted out if so when did we get contracted back in

Post by **Judgee** » 19 Jan 2018, 22:59

the mad woman wrote:only a few years from retiring but I keep reading in the press if you have been contracted out at any point you will loose some from your state pension ive already got to work an extra 6 years as pension age for women has increased have we been contracted out if so when did we get contracted back in

I thought in an age of equality where women wanted to be treated the same as men, women across the land would be jumping for joy now they can't retire earlier than their male counterparts???

Don't see it as having to work 6 years extra, see it as not being able to retire 6 years early!

garnery · Post by **garnery** » 19 Jan 2018, 23:09

Go to the government website to find out how many more years you have to work to qualify for full state pension. Just google ‘how much state pension’ & you will find it. You will need your passport or payslip for info

Post by **RobertT** » 20 Jan 2018, 04:05

the mad woman wrote:only a few years from retiring but I keep reading in the press if you have been contracted out at any point you will loose some from your state pension ive already got to work an extra 6 years as pension age for women has increased have we been contracted out if so when did we get contracted back in

The idea of contracting out was that you would be building up at least as much from your employers scheme as you would have done by contracting in to the State Second Pension. So it’s not necessarily a case of you’ll lose some of your state pension, more a case of you’re getting that money from your employers scheme instead.

Plus, since contracting out was ended in 2016 anyone entitled to less than the full rate of the state pension(currently £159.55) would be growing their entitlement by 1/35th of the full rate per qualifying year, by still being employed and earning just £113 per week. So it's actually possible to have the benefits of a contracted out pension a scheme, and a full state pension aswell. Although the older you are and the longer you were contracted out, the less that is likely to be the case.

State pensions are quite complex, so rather than going into detail here, I suggest you read this for more info.

You can check you state pension entitlement here.

It's also possible to purchase any missing qualifying years you may have, info here.

the mad woman · Post by **the mad woman** » 20 Jan 2018, 11:47

ive not really got a problem with working the extra years the problem is we where never told officially about this you would be surprised at how many people still do not know and as a lot of us took years out of the workplace to raise our children we have gaps in our ni contributions

Post by **Judgee** » 20 Jan 2018, 12:24

the mad woman wrote:ive not really got a problem with working the extra years the problem is we where never told officially about this you would be surprised at how many people still do not know and as a lot of us took years out of the workplace to raise our children we have gaps in our ni contributions

Could be wrong but I believe if you had a partner working at the time you were raising your children, their contributions count towards your own?

As for working the extra years, personally I think it would have been better if they just lowered the age for men to sixty that would have been better for all!

Post by **RobertT** » 20 Jan 2018, 13:18

the mad woman wrote:ive not really got a problem with working the extra years the problem is we where never told officially about this you would be surprised at how many people still do not know and as a lot of us took years out of the workplace to raise our children we have gaps in our ni contributions

Personally I have a RMPP booklet dating from the 1990’s which says the scheme was contracted out.

The increase in state pension age for women was first announced in 1995, although it didn’t actually begin to increase until 2010.

If you got child benefit you should have been automatically given National Insurance credits. This also applies to other state benefits. More info.

Post by **RobertT** » 20 Jan 2018, 13:21

Judgee wrote:Could be wrong but I believe if you had a partner working at the time you were raising your children, their contributions count towards your own?

That may have been the case in the past, but I don’t think it applies anymore. See the link in my previous post.

As for working the extra years, personally I think it would have been better if they just lowered the age for men to sixty that would have been better for all!

Of course it would! But the government have got to raise revenue somehow and what better way than to raise the state pension age to 68(and possibly higher) make people work and pay tax for longer and claim the pension for a shorter time.