Hmm, it's a bit too public to ask this, so maybe don't actually reply, but have the answers in mind for research elsewhere.
Depending on their ages (and apologies if I'm way off 
), it'd be worth them looking into Pension Credit. Details on the DirectGov website here.
Have in mind the equalisation of state pension age will impact on this - (basically anyone born 'twixt 1950 and 1955 is transitioning to the equalised State Pension Age (SPA) of 65 so can't claim Pension Credit until they get there - use the link on that page ^ to help with this).
The starting questions are:
How old is the lady in question ... and when you say 'husband' and 'retiring', is that he's 'reached state-pension age retiring', or just stopping work 'retiring'?
He might be able to claim PC now, plus there might be extra State Pension he can claim for her / she can claim from his contributions (when he reaches his SPA). That's more complex tho' - but ask for a Pension Forecast now to help plan for that, (but if he's within 3 months of his SPA he won't be able to get a forecast).
One of your local voluntary sector providers will [probably] have a welfare-rights worker who can help them by looking at the whole household and advising from there, be that working tax credit / pension credit / preserving NI et cetera ...
(Not relevant to this question, and maye a bit geeky, but NI conts aren't actually paid 'as such' whilst on JSA/ESA, rather the period required to qualify for a full State Pension at State Pension Age is reduced by the period that is 'protected' by that relevant claim - but in a practical sense the effect is the same - as the NI conts are still 'credited').
