state pension loss
Every year since reaching pension age my state pension statement has read "Less contracted out Deduction" currently £99 per week
I contacted the pension system whop told me, very politely, that this was the case and that since I now had no earned income I could not buy back the lost years as would have been possible if I had applied earlier
I was/am angry as I have no recall of being told about the and would certainly have done whatever was allowed to buy back into the system. Basically those in the pension system knew we were ignorant of the situation and our service master took no action to draw the situation to our attention
It would be interesting to know what proportion of senior officer did buy those years back but I don't suppose anyone is going to tell us
The pension system had many errors. The whole of my generation knew wives claimed state pension on their working husbands contributions, so they did but the it was only payable on the husband reaching his pension age. Wives could only buy back the lost years from their working earnings.