State Pension?

[jonah hart]

My mum received a letter from the DWP about a claim she's put in for state pension, she hasn't put in a claim because she was told years ago that she wasn't entitled to it (She receives pension credits)
The information she as been told to send is my dad's details and their marriage certificate
(My parents separated in May this year)
She's a little worried about this letter, as anyone else received anything like this?
I can't ring anyone till monday and was hoping to put my mum's mind at ease (She's 68)
Many thanks

[Mamyalynne]

I doubt she has anything to be worried about and possibly something to gain, give them a call Monday to enquire.

[fiction-factory]

It may be that now she is separated she is entitled to more as a single person. It's a complex area. Nothing to be lost.

[jonah hart]

Ah thankyou for your reply, my mum's a worrier, but ill try and let her know she's nothing to worry about x

[Buenchico]

Pension Guarantee Credit is paid to eligible couples to ensure that their joint income can't fall below £248.80. (There might also be an additional element of Pension Savings Credit but we can ignore that for now). Pension Guarantee Credit is paid to eligible single people to bring their income up to £163 per week. (Again there could also be a fairly small amount of Pension Savings Credit to add onto that).

If your mother is now single (i.e. separated) then the system should be looking at her income (if any), such as that from a private pension or from investments, and topping that up to £163 per week, rather than continuing to examine the combined income of your parents and topping that up to £248.80 per week. So, unless such matters have already been resolved anyway, that would appear to be what the letter is about.

[jonah hart]

Phew, thankyou x

[jonah hart]

Thankyou buenchico, it took a while but we thought we'd finally got my mum's finances sorted.
I'll ring them on monday but you all have put her mind at ease for now, thanks ever so much for taking time out to reply x

[Peter Pedant]

// I doubt she has anything to be worried about and possibly something to gain, give them a call Monday to enquire.//

agree - shout yippee but not too loudly

so give up the documents - make sure you send copies or make copies and send the originals

AND if she gets it - think about claiming a back-date
( who told her not to apply?)

[Peter Pedant]

sort of wander around this part of the gov internet site

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-through-partner

and please keep us informed - we all have old relatives who are fearful that the benefits they have spent their life moiling and a-toiling for will be taken away by a pen waving school leaver stuck up in an office

[woofgang]

I don't know if they still do but when I had to send stuff to the pensions office when my husband died, the local job centre would do cerified originals....I think they were free. You took in the originals, they looked at them and photocopied them and stamped and intialled the copies

[jonah hart]

Thanks so much for your replies, it's really appreciated x no one told my mum to apply and she never applied herself, my dad always sorted the money side of things out so it's been abit like the blind leading the blind my mum and i trying to sort things out, my mum's never been money orientated and never had much so she's happy with what she gets now, i will for sure let you know, many thanks x