There are women in Malta who are kept away from a full pension after separating, even though their national insurance was paid by their former spouse. After years of uncertainty, the government is now promising to address the issue.

Speaking in parliament during the budget speech, Finance Minister said that while the issue affects both genders, it mostly affects women who would separate from their partners at a later age, having spent years away from the working world to take care of the family and home.

In August, Lovin Malta reported how a generation of divorced and separated women were precluded from an adequate pension.

Angele* was told that she would have to pay around €8,000 for the shortfall if nothing changes. “At the very least, I feel that this should be shared between both parts.”

In the more than two decades of her marriage, her husband paid national insurance with their shared earnings. The two would have benefitted from one pension as Angele only did casual work during their marriage.

But now that they separated, only Mark will benefit from a full pension, since only he paid national insurance.

Their shared earnings benefited from his full-time job, at which he was continually climbing the income ladder. “I, on the other hand, will get a minimum pension at 65 years old,”  Angele explained.

What do you think of the issue?