Is there a 10+ year gap between you and your husband? Important news!

[HollowTalk]

I'm posting here rather than in Money because there are more views here.

I've just been listening to Radio 4's Money Box and there's a piece on there saying if you have a large age gap, the full pension may not be paid out when the older person dies. It's at the pension company's discretion but they can deduct a certain percentage for every year over ten years' difference.

The link is to the programme but it's just been on and you might have to wait a few minutes before it's available.

It's well worth checking out what you or your partner's pension provider says, if you fall into that category.

Yes, I heard that. Won't affect us but I did feel bad for that poor woman who got so much less than she and her husband had been expecting.

I know - that was terrible for her. I didn't know they had that rule - it seemed to be in the small print.

There are a lot of women on here with big age gaps in their relationships who should probably check it out.

I had no idea, thank you for the heads up, I'll get DH to check it out.

I'll have to have a listen in a bit as I tried to search DH's provider's website, but it's probably buried somewhere.

Thanks @HollowTalk. Did they mention the Teachers Pension Scheme at all? I had a Google but couldn’t find anything

Oh this is interesting

@thereinmadnesslies

Thanks *@HollowTalk*. Did they mention the Teachers Pension Scheme at all? I had a Google but couldn’t find anything

I didn't hear the whole piece but I didn't hear any specific mention of TPS. However, I think they did say that it was a particular issue for defined benefit schemes of which I think TPS is one, so would be worth checking.

They didn't mention any particular pension, just said it was in the T&C. It might be worth getting in touch with the TP and getting it confirmed.

I think the thing is that when you get your annual pension report it says how much you'll get - that's the amount the woman on the programme was expecting - there didn't seem to be anything to say "If you're married to someone much younger, they will get less than this." It was only after he died that she found she got a lot less. It was really shocking. She'd been married to him for decades - it wasn't a deathbed wedding of a 90 year old to a 19 year old, where she'd get 1/2 his pension for the rest of her life.

Aargh DH doesn’t like asking about pension stuff because it makes him feel old 😬

9.5 years here - phew!

This has been a provision of most final salary schemes for years. Not sure why it's suddenly become newsworthy?

A few also require the marriage to have taken place more than 6 months before the date of death. If not, there's no widow's pension at all.

The standard reduction is 2.5% for each year in excess of 10 years difference, subject to a maximum so the widow(er) will always get something, but the percentage varies between schemes.

@DerAlteMann I think the problem is that for a lot of people they are just not told about it and then they get a shock when their partner dies and the pension isn't what they assumed it would be.

Surely the annual projection should give the correct figure, once they have the wife’s details? If they don’t the company that produces it should bear some responsibility.

My own projection used to have a greater figure for dependant children’s pension had I died in service because there would have been no widower, so was tailored to our particular circumstances.

From what they were saying, the older person gets the pension as normal. Normally their partner would get 50% after their death, but if there's a big age gap it's reduced so they might get e.g. 30% instead. However there doesn't seem to be anything in the guy's projected pension before he retires to tell him that. The woman being interviewed certainly didn't know that she wasn't going to get 50%.

At exactly what point does it usually change? Is it from exactly 10 years? I'd be grateful if someone could clarify (no access to link above unfortunately).

Interesting. Thanks.

My husband and I have been married almost 30 years and he is 10.5 years older than I am. I'll get him to check.