Pension advice

[qwertyuiopasfghjklzxcvbnenk]

Just after some info if someone might be able to point me in the right direction or who to speak to!
My dad (77) has never really worked since his late twenties due to mental health and he was more of the house husband therefore he has never contributed to national insurance. My Mum (66) has always worked 4 days a week so has paid national insurance. She has just retired and is now claiming state pension and has her pension. My dad told me he has never claimed the state pension because he hasn't contributed to national insurance he didn't think he'd be entitled to it as that's what he read online.
Is this right? does being married not affect this? Surely he's entitled to something.
Does anyone know who I might be able to get advice from about this? Or does anyone have advice?

There is a.gov site you can register and enter your details and it will tell you what state pension you are entitled.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Is you DM entitled to Pension Credit too @qwertyuiopasfghjklzxcvbnenk?

Depending on what benefits hé may have received such as Incapacity Benefit he may have been credited with NI contributions. Worth checking.

Claiming child benefit gives an NI credit. If the child benefit was put in your dad's name rather than your mum's that would have given him some credits towards state pension.

He's never claimed any benefits as my mum earned enough to cover them. He never felt like he should claim when they were comfortable anyway.

She's just started to claim the state pension

Although we call it Child Benefits, hardly anyone sees that as “claiming benefits” as it was a universal benefit. At your dad’s sort of age, he may have called it “Family Allowance” although the name had changed to Child Benefit long before, the old name persisted a while. Doesn’t sound like they’d have put it in his name though.
If he worked until his late 20s, I’d be surprised if he didn’t have some qualifying years of NI for state pension. Help to check that - easily done - as a starting point. He may now be entitled to Pension Credit, but not for sure, given your mother’s likely income.

Being married used to have an impact, in that pre-1977 a married woman could choose to pay less NI (“stamp”) for a lower pension, as the assumption was that they would share their husband’s. That’s not relevant here.

Being married is relevant here because if your mother dies before your father (unlikely but possible) it can in some cases be possible for him to inherit her better NI record and get a better pension than currently.

Why doesn't he put in a claim for state pension & see what it calculates it to be ?
He may be entitled to pension credit, winter fuel payments, free bus pass, free prescriptions etc

He can also go onto www.gov.uk & put in his National Insurance number & see exactly how much National Insurance he has paid, per year.