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Old Age Pension
36 Answers
Just had my "get your Old Age Pension" letter today, rather earlier that I had anticipated, as I am not 65 until June 4th.
Can hardly wait !
Can hardly wait !
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Claiming your pension could be fun though, Mikey.
As required, I logged in via my Government Gateway account to check what I'd get. No problems.
Then I tried to log in to actually claim my State Pension. However I kept getting an error message.
When (after listening to the same 10 seconds of Haydn for ages) I finally got through to the help desk, the guy told me "Oh, that will probably be because you've got an HMRC Government Gateway account. It's meant to be the same as a DWP one but it isn't. So you need to register for a new Government Gateway account. However you can't do that from the Government Gateway page because that will just give you another HMRC account. What you have to do is to tell our computer system that you've got an account already and start the claim process. Then, when you get to question 3, say that you've not got an account after all. That will then give you the correct link to apply for a DWP account".
Easy peasy, eh?
As required, I logged in via my Government Gateway account to check what I'd get. No problems.
Then I tried to log in to actually claim my State Pension. However I kept getting an error message.
When (after listening to the same 10 seconds of Haydn for ages) I finally got through to the help desk, the guy told me "Oh, that will probably be because you've got an HMRC Government Gateway account. It's meant to be the same as a DWP one but it isn't. So you need to register for a new Government Gateway account. However you can't do that from the Government Gateway page because that will just give you another HMRC account. What you have to do is to tell our computer system that you've got an account already and start the claim process. Then, when you get to question 3, say that you've not got an account after all. That will then give you the correct link to apply for a DWP account".
Easy peasy, eh?
Chico....actually, things have gone very smoothly for me. I have been asked for regular estimates for the last 5 years, and the last one was early January. Its very easy to do on line.
Today's' letter couldn't have been plainer or easier as well. Within a couple of minutes of logging in, with my Special Code ( ! ) I had it all done and dusted.
Easy peasy !
The hard bit is going to be waiting until June !
Today's' letter couldn't have been plainer or easier as well. Within a couple of minutes of logging in, with my Special Code ( ! ) I had it all done and dusted.
Easy peasy !
The hard bit is going to be waiting until June !
Mikey - I would seriously consider reducing your working time, if your employer will let you, at the same time as you start getting your pension. My wife did that and I followed suit when my time came. It has two advantages; you get used to having the extra leisure time and learn how to make use of it and you get used to having a little less income rather than, at some point in your life, going from employment+pension down to bare pension. Many people have problems when they go from full-time employment to full-time leisure and changing gradually makes it much easier.
Something of a paradox, but when I retired my income dropped from £35,000 p.a. to £17,000, yet I've never been so well off. Before that I was continually overdrawn with large credit card bills yet I haven't touched my overdraft in 4 years. I put it down to having none of the expenses involved in working.
