Child Benifit & UK Pension

[laarbruch]

In a couple of years I will be returning to the UK with my wife and two children.

My children are UK citizens but my wife will have to go through the UK visa / settlement process over the five year qualifying period and will therefore have no right to welfare payments. We have been legaly married for 6 years and I will be drawing down my state pension from January 2016...........

My Questions:
- Will I be able to claim a full married state pension

- Can my wife claim child benifit in her own name to qualify for the NI contribution or must she wait until granted ILR

Thanks in advance

[jimmbo60]

As it stands
If you are set to reach state retirement age before April 2017 you will be able to claim the basic state pension. This is worth up to £110.15 from April 2013.
Married couples and civil partners receive a joint pension worth up to £176.15 from April 2013 if only one of them qualifies for the full basic state pension.
How much you get depends on how many years of national insurance contributions you have made over your working lifetime. To qualify for the full amount you need to have made 30 years' contributions – either by working, being credited while caring for a family, or voluntarily paying to make up missed years.
The value of the basic state pension rises every April. This rise is guarded by a "triple-lock", which means it goes up by whichever is the highest out of these three things:
• The average percentage growth in wages in Great Britain
• Inflation as measured by CPI for the previous September
• 2.5%
On top of the basic state pension you might qualify for some additional pension – either the second state pension (S2P) or the state earnings related pension (Serps).
Whether you qualify, and how much for, again depend on your national insurance contributions. It also depends on whether you "contracted out" at any point – this was an option that allowed you to pay NI contributions into a private pension scheme rather than using them to build up state pension entitlement.

I don't know anything about who gets the child benefit, but one of you will get it.

[caller]

How old are the children?

[laarbruch]

Children will be six & fours years old on arrival UK

[DAS]

Hi Laarbruch
I guess you will draw pension at the current rate as commented on above, myself I will take pension at age 66 and although I will receive a higher personal pension it looks like the qualifying years will increase to 35 and the married allowance will disappear, you should only need 30 years to qualify. Again I will be very interested on how your wife's visa goes as I guess you will have to sponsor her by the savings rule, if you retire, the pension being nowhere near enough to meet the 18600 per year. Have you looked at Khonwans post he is looking to return to Scotland in a couple of years. I would like to wish you well and would like to read of your progress. At the moment my wife does not want to return but she may change her mind (again) and it would be interesting to see how people of similar age and circumstances get the visa and any problems they encounter.
What actually caught my attention to your post was your forum name. Were you at anytime posted to RAF Laabruch, I was there myself from 89 to 92.
Good luck
David

[caller]

You'll have to claim the child benefit but it can paid directly to your wife.

[laarbruch]

Yes David I was at Laarbruch (2 sqd Phantoms) from 1970 to 1972 before returning to Cosford on a fitters course. Excellent days @ RAFG as a single man. Re a visa application for my wife, we are fortunate to have sufficient savings to comply with the new finacial conditions and purchase a home in the UK so we are not expecting any difficulty with the approval process. We have our Thai home on the market just now and like everywhere else in the world property is moving slowly, a.nyway the visa application will go in when we have sold.

Thanks to everyone for their advice

[laarbruch]

Hi David...........I made an earlier reply but somehow it got lost!!

Anyway I was in RAFG and Laarbruch during the period 1970 to 1972 as an air comms tech on 2 sqdn. Excellent days as a single man in Germany. I returned to the UK for a fitters course in Cosford and then ended up purchasing my release after being posted to a backwater in Leconfield. RE the visa application we are not expecting any problems with the financial requirements as we have sufficient savings to offset the income requirement and purchase a home. THanks to you and everyone else for the advice