Advice Column – Oct 2025

This is a real case which an adviser from Sudbury and South Suffolk Citizens Advice dealt with recently. We are only a phone call away!

The client, age 65, was clearly distressed and showed the adviser a letter she had received from the Pension Service informing her that she was not entitled to a state pension because she had less than 10 years of National Insurance contributions.   

 

It transpired that she had been working for a relative’s business for the majority of her working life, believing that her National Insurance contributions were being deducted from her employee income.  It appears that this was not the case and that the relative had failed to safeguard her state pension entitlement by processing her National Insurance. The relative had since died.

 

At this stage the client believed that she faced retirement without a regular income, but the adviser assured the client that this was not so.   

 

The client, in the absence of a state pension entitlement, would become entitled to Pension Credit of (at the time) a weekly value of £217. Her rent would be paid via housing benefit and her council tax paid via council tax support entitlements.  

 

Additionally, a Winter Fuel Payment of £200 would be paid and a Warm Homes Discount of £150 deducted from her electricity usage.   

 

Also, she would be entitled to a Cold Weather Payment of £25 a week, subject to winter weather temperatures. 

 

The client was, understandably, delighted.  

 

Citizens Advice 01787 321400