Partner Article

Women get to buy back pensions

Thousands of women who gave up work to stay at home and look after their children are to get the chance to play catch-up with their National Insurance contributions.

This should allow them to receive a full state pension under a top-up payment scheme.

Only around a third of people - mainly women - reaching pension age presently qualify for a full basic state pension.

Up till now, people could only buy back the previous six years of missed NI contributions. But Monday’s announcement from Pensions Secretary James Purnell means women will be able to buy back up to six more years - a total of 12 in all.

The move marks a change of heart for the Government which last year overturned an amendment to the Pensions Bill which would have allowed more NI buy-backs.

“By 2010 around 75% of women reaching state pension age will be entitled to a full basic state pension, rising to 90% by 2025, compared with around 35% today,” Mr Purnell said.

The policy will apply to both men and women who reach state pension age between April 5, 2008 and April 5, 2015 and already have 20 years on their NI record.

Charities on the whole welcomed the move, but lobby group, the National Pensioners Convention, described the move as nothing more than “window dressing”.

“Up to five million existing women pensioners fail to get a full state pension because they spent years raising children, caring for relatives or working part-time,” NPC vice president Dot Gibson said. “Many of these women are now living below the poverty line and will simply be unable to afford to buy back any extra years of pension.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .