A scheme that would have helped women make good shortfalls in their state pensions has been turned down by the government. Under the reform, women would have been allowed to buy up to nine years of additional National Insurance contributions as a way of increasing their state pensions. The aim was to enable women whose careers may have been interrupted by looking after their families to fill in gaps in their National Insurance history. However, the government has decided against making the change. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: “Poorer pensioners are likely to be better off under pension credit and would not benefit from paying voluntary contributions. Women claiming on their husband’s contributions would not benefit unless they were able to increase their own entitlement above 60 per cent of their spouse’s pension.” At the moment, anyone who does not have a full National Insurance history can recoup six years through backdated payments, provided payments are for those years immediately preceding. An amendment to the Pensions Act 2007 was passed by the Lords during the summer, allowing people to pay for up to nine years of NI contributions, covering any time period. Baroness Hollis, the former DWP minister who championed the change, said: “It is quite wrong that women caring for other people should go into retirement with a lower pension through arbitrary time limits. If the government was really determined to deliver this they could find a way.” Date:20 December 2007
Content by: Made Simple Group
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