THREE million women are drawing drastically reduced pensions - sometimes as little as 8p a week - because they opted for the "Married Women's Stamp".
The reduced rate National Insurance stamp enabled women to pay about a third of the full NI deduction when it was introduced.
Although it was abolished in 1977, hundreds of thousands of women are still locked into the scheme and face a bleak financial future because of it.
The Department of Work and Pensions insists that they were told what the implications would be, although many women believe they were given bad advice and were unaware they were throwing away the chance of a full pension.
Sadly, for the 3.5 million women who have since retired, the feeling that they have simply wasted their time and money must be overwhelming, says Jacqueline Hughes- Lundy, of Manchester law firm, Cobbetts.
"There are an estimated 1.5 million women yet to retire who opted for the Married Woman's Stamp and will be facing a similar dilemma in the next few years."
The Married Women's Stamp was seen as a cheap option by many women who had little knowledge about the long-term cost, which, in many cases, is huge, said Jo Smith, of financial advisers Park Row.
"This is just another reason to plan for financial independence," said Jo. "Even women who opted to pay full National Insurance are unlikely to get full State benefits.
Incompatibility
"The basic pension relies on a long working career and, in the latter stages, the earnings related pension, SERPS was based on career earnings. This is not really compatible with many women's careers that include breaks for children, education and caring."
Anyone who's unsure of her State pension provision should get a benefit forecast from the DSS, said Jo. Form BR19 is used and is available on the DSS website - www.dss.gov.uk.
Pensions are a subject which can cause endless anxiety for women and getting expert advice can make a significant difference to retirement income, said Adrian Shandley, director of Premier Wealth Management.
A wider problem than that surrounding the Married Women's Stamp may be lurking within the Government Occupational Pension Schemes, such as the Teachers' Pension Scheme and others including the GPO, said Adrian.
"For example, within the Teachers' Pension Scheme, a female teacher accrued no pension benefits for her husband if she died, whereas, a similar male teacher would have left his wife half his salary had he died in the period up to 1989.
"Although in 1989, female teachers were allowed to 'buy-back' the benefit, they had, in effect, been paying the same contributions since 1972. They were, therefore, put at a significant disadvantage.
"Inevitably, such restrictions have tended to have a greater impact on women than men. Many people now retired have lost significant chunks of pension credits as a result."
The Pensions Service can be contacted on 0191-218-7585 for form BR19; Cobbett's 0161 833 3333; Premier Wealth Management 0845 60 77 300. Tweet