Dr. Laura Bambrick:

The Deputy mentioned the 520 contributions that must be made to qualify even for a reduced pension. In the UK in recent years, they have removed the stipulation that they must be paid contributions. They can be a mixture of paid or credited or all credited. That is a good move. If the stipulation for 520 contributions remains and there is no return to the 260 contributions, it may be beneficial to individuals and the type of people, mostly women caring in the home, to have a mixture or allowing credited contributions to be taken into account to make the higher number. That is something that congress has requested.