Monday 23 November 2015

NO NEW STATE PENSION

In the first five years of new state pension between 45,000 and 60,000 new pensioners (2% to 3% of the total) living in the UK will get no state pension due to having fewer than ten years of National Insurance Contributions. 

In addition to those living in the UK, a further 30,000 to 40,000 people living overseas who reach state pension age in the first five years of the new State Pension will be caught by this rule and get no state pension. That is about one in five UK overseas residents who reach state pension age in that time.

Under current rules people in the UK or abroad who have paid at least one year of National Insurance and who reached state pension age from 6 April 2010 get 1/30th of the basic state pension for each year paid, which is around £200 a year.

By 2040 it is estimated this new rule, which will deprive up to 20,000 people a year of any pension, will be saving the Government £650m a year.

It is reasonable to suppose that the majority of those who get no pension will be women. They will suffer twice as under new State Pension rules they will not be entitled to a reduced pension on their spouse's contributions. Under the current rules they could claim £69.50 a week on their spouse's contributions if their own entitlement was less than that amount.


Data
These figures from the May 2014 Impact Assessment (para.95) are approximate. No breakdown into men and women is available and the Government has refused a Freedom of Information request for them - see below. I have asked for a review of that decision.