Basic pension entitlements for women who paid national insurance contributions at the married women’s reduced rate at some point in their working lives are shown in the following table.
Women who elected to pay reduced rate contributions were able to revoke their elections at any time. Leaflet NI 1 – “National Insurance for Married Women” went to great lengths to make it clear that married women who chose to pay reduced-rate contributions would not qualify for national insurance entitlements, including retirement pension. Married women opting to pay reduced-rate contributions were required to sign a declaration on a form attached to NI1 that they had read and understood the leaflet.
There are no current plans to take steps to alter the level of pensions which they acquired as a result of this choice.
Number Full Category A retirement pension or Category B retirement pension 1,257,000 Reduced Category A retirement pension or Category B retirement pension 548,000 Full Category B married women’s pension 1,228,000 Total 3,034,000 Notes: 1. Data are based upon a one per cent sample and are shown to the nearest thousand. 2. UK cases only. Source: One per cent. IFD Datasets