AIBU to not know about state pension?

[1FineDane]

Say you moved to the UK aged 50 and you hit retirement age. Are you then entitled to full state pension or is it proportional to what you've paid into the pot/pro rata per year spent paying in?

OP, honestly your post has made my political pendulum swing drastically to the right.

There HAS to be some sort of non-contributory system? Or how do wives who've lived off their husbands fare? Or girlfriends?

What does 'the right' mean? Nobody should get a pension except those who paid in through work?

Today 17:48 1FineDane

I find it hard to believe that maybe a single mother, who reared her children her entire life, gets zero pension? What the actual fuck does she live on?

Why the actual fuck does anyone need to devote their entire adult life span to ‘rearing’ children? Even if someone stops working completely while their kids are tiny, they don’t need to never work again.

Of course if someone chooses not to work, or to live off a Partner their entire adult life, or to have a dozen children so they barely have enough time left to work, then why the hell would they expect to get anything other than basic subsistence?

You see it's different in Ireland - you hit retirement age, you collect the old age pension, whether you were a wife/sahm/single parent all your life. It's a state benefit that is means tested.
Yes, if you've paid into the contributory fund, you'll receive that even if you have a million in private funds.
I'm just trying to get the lay of the land over here and it seems a lot of grannies are getting a pension, but nobody knows how as they never worked. People seem to be assuming it's their husband's pensions they're getting. I don't think a lot of you actually know much more than I do! Hence the question!

I think we know enough to see that you’re deluding yourself.

@AccioCats cos if you've 10 kids, you've fuck all time to work to be fair. A lot of women take cash in hand bar work for e.g. to top up their benefits. Or they take in children to mind again to top up their benefits. It's all under the counter cash, but I guess it comes back to bite you in the ass when you hit 68! Lol.

Don’t have 10 kids then, and get a job.

Childminders have to be registered and regulated in the U.K.

How am I deluding myself? I asked a simple question and it seems that nobody knows what actually happens to a woman who never worked but reared her (let's call it 5) children. She became unemployable and lived off benefits maybe. She has reared two police officers, a nurse, a CEO (who doesn't speak to her) and a ne'er do well.

Or a wife (sorry I believe the term is SAHM) whose hubby rides off into the sunshine with his pension intact post divorce. She hasn't worked. She never needed to. She was 'keeping house' and 'rearing his kids' to facilitate his working hours. So she has paid fuck all in so on retirement she gets nothing to live off?

A single mother won’t get fuck all!

If you claim child benefit, up to your youngest child’s 12th birthday you’ll get NI contributions as if you were in paid employment. So there you go, you’ve qualified for the 10 years easily.

Plus, most people will work before they have children, so already have some contributions.

Then they can work once their children are at secondary or left home.

Wives with rich husbands - rich husband can pay voluntary contributions to get their wives entitlements.

In receipt of certain benefits e.g. Carers Allowance entitles you to MI contributions.

Why should there be a non-contributory pension?

I dunno - cos I'm Irish? We're just used to it? It's a bizarre notion that there's literally zero unless you've paid in. Haha. Let's hope I die before retirement age, or I'll surely die soon thereafter!

She won’t starve or go to the workhouse but she’ll have a pretty shit life! But then if you’re going to ‘keep house’ your entire adult life I’m not sure what you’d expect!

Btw the career destinations of her children has no relevance whatsoever. She could have raised a brain surgeon, a rocket scientist and a refuse collector while also working herself.

I think you have information-gathering and reading comprehension problems.
If you've nothing to add to discussion, perhaps dismiss with the personal attacks.....

Love to get the SAHMs to comment here. The ones who are actually sacrificing their careers to let their hubbies shine.....

It's a bizarre notion that there's literally zero unless you've paid in.

I think it’s a bizarre notion that you get something for nothing.

If you are raising children the mechanism is there to ‘pay in’ via child benefit to recognise your contribution.

If you’re staying at home with a rich husband and doing nothing else but running his life, onus is on you to make damn sure he is valuing your contribution and providing for your pension provision- you’re “working” for him, after all.

If you've nothing to add to discussion

Did you miss my other posts? With information?

If you claim child benefit, up to your youngest child’s 12th birthday you’ll get NI contributions as if you were in paid employment.

Interesting-why does that stop at 12?

If someone has not worked they may have accrued NI credits through claiming Child benefit or another benefit such as Jobseekers Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance. Those NI credits will count towards your pension.

If you still don't have enough then you can claim means tested benefits, which for pension age people would be Pension Credit.

Pension age people are better looked after than those of working age. They won't be left with nothing.

Aha, so there is a means tested benefit.

Now know-it-alls. See post above!

Interesting-why does that stop at 12?

Because by the second year of secondary education there’s really no much stopping the average parent getting a job. The average 12-year-old is capable of getting to and from school independently and so you’re free to work.

You might choose not to fit various reasons but that is a choice at that point so the state doesn’t subsidise it.

I'll chip in here, firstly to thank the poster who put the gov website link up as I've been on this afternoon and checked my NI and pension info which I haven't done in a while, and secondly to pick up on the OPs last post about SAHMs.....

I've been one for a number of years having giving up a career in teaching (in hindsight not the best move as the pension rules have changed whilst I've been out but hey ho, it is what it is). I didn't give my career up so that my husband could 'shine', I did it because at the time we lived away from both families and had no one to help us out, so had I gone back after baby number two I wouldn't have earned enough to cover both lots of nursery fees. Had my DH had a more nine to five job I might have carried on, but his job means working abroad regularly which meant all the childcare and days off if they were poorly was on me. So it was a decision made for the good of the family. It could have been the other way round, but I was happy to be the one at home (and am better at it). A few years ago DH was made redundant so I went back as a TA (to avoid paying childcare) so our roles were reversed. Now I'm looking at going back to work again, primarily with an eye on rebuilding my pension pot and because as our youngest turns 12 next year, the NI contributions I get from the child benefit finish so I think it's of benefit to be working and have these being made from employment.

At this point in my life I can look back and wish certain things we'd done differently, but we didn't know then what we know now and made decisions on the info and advice we had at the time. I think now more women in particular are becoming better at understanding their financial position, which can only be a good thing. Anyway, thanks for starting the thread OP, it's been helpful to me today.

You're welcome @frugalkitty and thank you for your generous thanks. The longer the thread is running, it's becoming apparent to me, how little people know about pensions and their eventual demise at retirement age! To be honest, this thread was prompted by me receiving an unsolicited letter in the post about life insurance. So I started to consider my dd and what I have to leave her (my private pensions, nothing else) and then got me to thinking, ok, how much will I live on when I'm 64 like the song, or 68 as per current pension age in the UK.

I asked a simple question, got told to google, got told I was rude, etc. etc. blah fucking blah.
But it's clear to me that some of us have never actually considered it.

It's been a really useful thread to me too. And perhaps I'll live and work in the UK and retire to Ireland too!

Ireland has a population of less than 5 million, with 637,567 (20176) people over 65. The UK has a population of 66 million with 11.1 million people over 65. That's why we cannot afford to dish out free pensions.

And I believe you fall into the latter category of my post i.e. She was 'keeping house' and 'rearing his kids' to facilitate his working hours. So she has paid fuck all in so on retirement she gets nothing to live off?