PENSION GUIDELINES for British Pensioners  No 7
Brought to you with the compliments of British Australian Pensioner Association 
A Pension for the Wife

If a man has a basic pension (*) from the British National Insurance Scheme, he can get an additional pension for his wife. It does not matter if his wife is not British and has never worked in Britain.
 
If the wife has not yet reached retirement age (*) the pension is an adult dependant supplement+. It is work tested and income tested. It is paid to the husband in addition to his own pension.
 
If the wife has reached retirement age then the pension is called "category B" and is paid to the wife. It is not means tested.
 
Be aware that DWP does not automatically convert a dependant supplement to a category B pension; it is necessary to apply.
 
The pension is in both cases almost 60% of the husband's basic pension.
 
(*) Basic pension is part of the total state pension. The husband may have a graduated retirement benefit (grb) and an S2P pension, but neither of these attracts a wife pension.
 
(*) Retirement age for a woman born before 1950 is 60. For women born after 1955 it is 65. For women born between 1950 and 1955 it is on a sliding scale.

(+) Adult dependant supplement, also called adult dependant increase, is being phased out. No new awards are being made after 6 April 2010, and all such increases will stop in 2020.

You can download the application form at http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/br1/br1apr09.pdf, or you can:
 

Write to

They will need the husband's NI number and the wife's personal details. Proof of marriage will be required. And if the wife is not British and has never worked there they will require her to apply for a National Insurance Number.
 
If the wife has a basic pension in her own right, then her pension and the category B pension will be added together to give a "composite pension", but there is an upper limit; she cannot get more than the current standard category B pension.

British Australian Pensioner Association Inc 
Box 35 Christies Beach, South Australia 5165
Member of the International Consortium of British Pensioners  Australia  Canada  South Africa

Back to Guidelines Index                                                    July 2004