Tri-Service
Forces Spouses And Civil Partners Given Pension Boost
Military spouses and civil partners who joined their partners on overseas postings have been thrown a lifeline to help them to build up towards a state pension.
The new Armed Forces National Insurance credit is also available for widows and divorcees if they accompanied their partners on an overseas posting while married, with up to 20,000 people potentially eligible.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
"We are making sure that military spouses and partners who spend time based overseas get the state pension they deserve. This is the latest step under the Armed Forces Covenant to ensure that service personnel and their families are treated fairly."
People who have accompanied their partners abroad may have been unable to work whilst there, and therefore would have been unable to make National Insurance (NI) contributions.
Gaps in contributions can seriously reduce the amount of money people receive when they reach state pension age.
As the new state pension is based on people’s own NI record, the credit will give people the opportunity to cover contributions missed by periods spent abroad dating back to 1975. Minister for Pensions, Baroness Ros Altmann said:
"Our Armed Forces protect our country and it is only right that in turn, we help protect their partners’ ability to receive the full state pension when they reach state pension age."
"This new credit will help ensure people who choose to support their partners abroad don’t miss out on a good state pension."
The new credit, known as Class 3 NI, has been taken forward under the Armed Forces Covenant, which states that members of the Armed Forces and their families should receive fair treatment from the nation which they serve.
It covers years spent abroad from 6 April 1975 onwards and counts towards the new state pension.
The partner of the applicant must have been paying national insurance contributions during the deployment, however, for them to be eligible.
Forces partners also won't be able to get the new credit if they paid a reduced rate of NI called 'married woman’s stamp' at any point from 1977, and hadn't cancelled this option while they were on overseas postings.
Gaps in NI contributions can seriously reduce the amount of pension money people receive
Click here for more information about the new credit and how to apply, or call 0300 200 3500 in the UK or +44 191 203 7010 from overseas to apply.
The government introduced a National Insurance credit in 2010 for accompanying spouses or civil partners on overseas postings, but under this system people could only receive credits if they applied by the end of the tax year after the posting ended.
It is still possible to apply for this credit, which may also help if the spouse or civil partner wants to claim a working age benefit.
Those who don't have a partner in the Armed Forces, but who have holes in their NI contributions, can boost their records by paying in voluntarily, meanwhile.
It usually costs around £800 to buy a year of contributions, although you can usually only pay for gaps from the past six years.
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