Overseas UK pensions 'blocked for spouses'

[dipsydoodle]

People living abroad will no longer be entitled to a British state pension based solely on their spouse's work history, under government plans.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said some of those claiming a married person's allowance had never been to the UK.

Some 220,000 overseas residents receive this payment at a cost of £410m a year.

The measure will be part of an overhaul of the state pension, to be included in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday. Existing pensioners will be unaffected.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22423878

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Webb has just said on Radio 4 this will apply equally to spouses in the UK who never paid NI

He said it won't make any difference if the spouse lived abroad or not, and that he was just saying that an increasing proportion of spouses who never paid any NI contributions themselves live abroad.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Mail alludes to that

Under the Coalition's new single tier pension, which will be put in place by 2016, people will receive a pension worth about £7,000 a year provided they can show a record of at least 35 years working in Britain or caring for children or elderly loved ones.

Separate claims will no longer be accepted from spouses who have no record of contributions here.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320096/Pensions-loophole-lets-220-000-people-living-abroad-claim-state-pension-despite-NEVER-having-worked-UK.html#ixzz2SW5ix5nQ

Guardian has yet to pick up on it - maybe later.

[fedsron2us]

3. Government spokesman speaks with forked tongue (no change there)

Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 05:50 PM - Edit history (2)

All the guff about overseas spouses is a complete blind. This proposal will mainly hit British women of a certain age who lack a full National Insurance Contribution record mainly because their working lives were interrupted when they looked after children. Many will not be able to work enough years to make up the lost contributions. As a consequence they wont qualify for a full or even a partial pension.The picture could be even more complicated if their spouse or partner reaches retirement while the old rules apply and they reach the retirement age later. It is potentially another blow for women in their 50s who have already been severely hit by the raising of their State Pension age.

One particular area of concern is the treatment of divorcees. At the moment the second State Pension (SERPS based) and any private pension is included in any partnership assets which can be divided at divorce. The basic State Pension is exempted because divorcees can claim Pension Substitution which is a benefit calculated on the National Insurance Contribution Record of their former spouse or partner. Presumably this will no longer apply. The question might then arises as to whether the removal of this provision will mean an individuals basic State pension should in future be valued as a partnership asset at the time of any divorce

[non sociopath skin]

4. Really useful information, feds. Thanks for that.

There is a real conspiracy by government to reframe nasty and divisive legislation as knocking back the pesky furriners, isn't there?

I imagine that the rise of the Baggy Trousered Misanthropists is likely to accentuate the trend.

The Skin