Reduced rate national insurance contributions

HMRC has amended it manual regarding reduced rate contributions for married women. Married woman could elect to pay a reduced rate of national insurance before May 1977 in return for a lesser entitlement to state pension and other benefits. The woman could receive such pension and benefits based on her husband’s national insurance contributions. A married woman may no longer make such an election, but a married woman who had made the election is allowed to continue with it. She may give it up voluntarily, or she may lose the right by having a gap in her national insurance record. She does not lose the right if she is widowed, but does if she is divorced or remarries. Once the right has been lost, it cannot be reinstated. The right was introduced in 1948.

Application was made by completing a form. These forms were destroyed after six years. The notation was made on the RF1 record. In 1957, a decision was made no longer to record the right on the permanent record. In 1961, the graduated pension was introduced which could indicate whether the reduced rate of contribution had been paid.

The third paragraph of NIM30025 in HMRC Manual says “Regular thorough audit checks were made of the card posting procedures in Records Branch. Any errors identified were brought to the attention of the senior officer in charge of the sub- section. The clerk responsible for that area of work was required to take corrective action. Records were kept of audit error rates, which provided an incentive between sub-sections to maintain high standards of record keeping.”
This admission of errors, and recognition of a procedure for dealing with them, could be useful evidence when a woman retires only to be told that she does not qualify for a full pension, even though she asserts that she paid full contributions. [20.08/13]