Topical Pension Issues
National Insurance Credits for Spouses (and Civil Partners) accompanying Service personnel overseas outside the United Kingdom
In its aims to meet a Government-wide commitment to end any disadvantage that armed service causes members of the Armed Forces and their families, as set out in the Command Paper (Cm 7424) The Nation’s Commitment: Cross- Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced new rules (introduced on 6 April 2010) that allow spouses and civil partners accompanying Service personnel serving overseas outside the UK to be eligible to claim Class One National Insurance credits during such periods. This improved benefit is not retrospective. Nationality or citizenship of the member of HM Forces does not determine entitlement to the credit, nor is nationality or citizenship of the spouse or civil partner relevant to the claim.
In certain circumstances, therefore, people may get credits on their National Insurance contribution record for state benefit purposes. This will help protect their eligibility to a State Pension and to contribution based benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment & Support Allowance.
Application should be made for the credit at the end of each accompanied assignment outside the UK. An official, working for or on behalf of the Defence Council, such as a families or welfare officer, will validate the application. Validated applications are to be submitted to HM Revenue & Customs to check the National Insurance details and record the credit on the claimant’s National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS) records.
Separate applications are to be made at the end of each accompanied assignment outside the UK. Therefore, if on completion of one assignment in Germany, the serviceman and his spouse move to his next assignment, which happens to be, say, Cyprus, the spouse would claim for the period in Germany at the end of the Germany assignment and claim again for the period in Cyprus at the end of the Cyprus assignment.
In cases where there is a need to make application part way through an assignment (for example, a person needs the new credit to get sickness benefits), provision has been made to allow an application to be made for a past period to the current date, even if the assignment continues thereafter. In such cases a subsidiary application is to be made for the period from the date of the interim application to the end of the assignment. It is not necessary, however, to make an interim application for a credit in cases where the Service person, or his/her spouse (or civil partner) has to return to the UK on a temporary basis. For example, a spouse may go into hospital in the UK but the Service person remains outside the UK: in such circumstances entitlement to the credit would be continuous. Similarly, entitlement for a spouse, or civil partner, is continuous if the Service person is required to go to another country on an operational assignment to, say, Afghanistan, but spouse/civil partner remains in, say, Germany.
Applications will be deemed ‘late’ if they are received after the end of the tax year following the tax year in which the end of the assignment falls. The legislation provides discretion as to the time in which the applications can be made, so there is no hard and fast rule about the latest date applications can be received. Further details of how to claim can be found on the DWP website at www.dwp.gov.uk.
