Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2008

Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2008

2008 CHAPTER 1

Commentary on Sections

PART 1: State pension

Entitlement to Category A and B retirement pensions

Section 2: Category B retirement pension: removal of restriction on entitlement

Section 2(2) amends section 48A(2)(a) and (2B)(a) of the Contributions and Benefits Act to remove the restriction which currently prevents a person from becoming entitled to a Category B pension derived from their spouse’s or civil partner’s contributions where their spouse or civil partner has not made a claim for their Category A pension.

The effect of the amendment is to enable, subject to the relevant contribution condition being met, a married person or a person in a civil partnership to become entitled to a Category B pension from the point at which both they and their spouse or civil partner have reached state pension age, regardless of whether the spouse or civil partner has made a claim for their Category A pension.

Subsection (3) omits section 48A(5) of that Act which restricts payability of a Category B pension to periods after the spouse or civil partner’s first payday for their Category A pension.

Subsection (4) introduces the consequential amendments in Part 2 of Schedule 1 andsubsection (5) makes provision for this section and that Part of that Schedule to have effect from 6th April 2010.

Subsection (6) provides that the amendments to section 48A(2) and (2B) of that Act apply to a person who attains state pension age before that date as well as to a person who attains state pension age on or after that date.

Credits for basic state pension etc.