Women’s Pensions: What you need to know
The Pensions Act 2007 claims to create a fairer deal for women - but it falls short of this.
At present, your basic state pension depends on how many years you’ve paid, or been credited with, NI contributions - you need 39 for a full pension. The fewer years paid, the lower the pension. If you paid less than ten years, you get no pension in your own right. Currently, only a third of women qualify for a full pension.
Under the new rules, the number of qualifying years is reduced to 30. The ten-year rule goes, so every year counts. Home Responsibilities Protection (which gave some pension protection for women at home with children etc.) will be replaced with a weekly NI credit for anyone caring for children under the age of 12. There will be a new system for women who are carers for more than 20 hours a week.
The Government claims that once the reforms are in place, 90% of women will qualify for a full pension. But who is left out? Women over 57. If you’ve already retired or reach retirement age before April 6th 2010, you’ll still need 39 contributions for a full pension and the ten-year rule still applies.
Cllr Jackie Hawthorn says, ‘We are very concerned that so many women are still being left out of pension reforms. You can find out about the Age Concern Campaign for Fairer Women’s’ Pensions at:
www.Ace.org.uk/AgeConcern/pensioner_poverty_campaign.asp
or write to me and I will make sure that the Government gets to hear about it!”
