Please could someone advise on the following?
The present full basic State Pension is £87.30 per week for a single person and £139.60 per week for a couple.
A woman qualifies for her £87.30 at the age of 60. A man qualifies for his £87.30 at the age of 65. [If a man and his wife are the same age, the wife can therefore take her pension five years before her husband.]
If the wife has not paid sufficient NI contributions to qualify for any pension at all, she will still get a pension of £52.30 when her husband reaches 65 (provided by her husband's NI contributions). This, added to the husband's £87.30, gives the married couple's pension of £139.60.
My first question is about what happens if the wife has been receiving her £87.30 since she was 60. When her husband reaches 65, will they receive the married couples' pension of £139.60, or will they each receive £87.30 in their own right (a total of £174.60).
A second (similar) question is about what happens if the wife didn't make sufficient NI contributions for a full pension, but has been receiving a reduced pension of (say) £60. When her husband reaches 65, will they then receive the married couple's pension of £139.60, or will they receive the somewhat higher sum of £87.30 + £60 (a total of £147.60)?
Essentially, whatever their individual entitlements are, will they get whatever is the higher amount? Or will they be penalised when the couples' pension is less than the sum of their own pensions?