State Pension contributions via Home responsibilities

Pardon me if this has been mentioned before : I dont have much experience with HMRC/NI contributions

I have had a client who is 68 years of age wishing to claim Carers Allowance for looking after her disabled son.

I told her it would overlap with her SRP, and due to husbands income + savings the Carers premium wouldnt trigger anything.

She told me she didnt get a state pension as she had never worked nor paid a penny in NI

She was offered 11p a week when she turned 60 but refused to claim it, as there was no point

Completed CA form, but an SRP would pay more.

She said she had to look after her disabled son for 20 years, so couldnt work or build any contribution record.

Although i know the home responsibilities credits thing was scrapped a couple of years ago i am wondering whether she should be credited for 20 years NI as she was claiming CB at the time. And this 20 years NI should pay more in a SRP than CA should pay.

Anyone any experience of getting old NI conts reclaimed and SRP triggered/increased in similar circumstances, or am i barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks

It looks like NI credits may have helped this woman towards an entitlement to State Pension as, due to her age, her contribution record would be assessed under the ‘single contribution condition’ which means that she would not have been required to have actually paid sufficient contributions in one year.  Unfortunately it would appear under HR Regs reg 2(5) that she cannot apply retrospectively after reaching state pension age.  The notes that accompany the claim form for Carers Credits (CC1) seem to back this up as well.

If she is 68 she would have reached pension age pre 6.4.2010 so old rules apply ie she would have needed to have paid Class 1,2 or 3 contributions for a year as well as benefiting from HRP.  See CPAG p 1004 (2015-6 Ed)

Agreed.

Thank you for your input

Most appreciated

Did she get Carer’s Allowance?

Thought: Is husband over his pension age?
If so why can’t she claim a category B on his contributions. Thought for the future if she claims Cat B now she will get Cat B at the full rate if husband dies before her (statistically probable).