Married or single?

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

I have worked since leaving university at the age of 21. I have paid the full NI contribution as well as making contributions to a final-salary pension scheme. When I married at the age of 37 my husband and I continued to be taxed as a single person and pay the full NI contribution.

I am now 53 and my husband is 54. I am eligible for a State pension at age 62 and my husband at age 65. When we retire will we each be able to claim a single-person's pension based on a full history of NI contributions or will we be counted as married and paid a couple's pension? ET, York

Lee Robertson, managing director of Investment Quorum, replies: This question has taxed us (pardon the pun) rather and we have discussed it with two tax advisers we know and trust. They concur with us, but none of us is 100% certain.

However, the consensus is that both individuals would get the full single-person's allowance in their own right (assuming full contribution history and no married woman's reduced rate payments were made). Upon retirement of the second person, an additional married element would become payable.

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