state pension

[Connemmara]

just been told by my friend she will be receiving £147 pension - now she is married coming up to 61 and will be getting £147. Another similar person only getting £125. How come. Should she check this = this other friend by the way never married. /First friend's husband has just retired last week. how do they work all this out. i will never know

[sandyRoe]

I think the £147 figure is a proposal rather than the reality. I reach retirement age in a matter of weeks and I'm still not sure what my pittance will be.

[factor-fiction]

http://www.direct.gov...tatePension/DG_188551
As both figures are above the basic state pension i assume that there are elements of either SERPS/second state pension or pension credit. It could also be that one hasn't got enough NI credits

[factor-fiction]

that proposal won't take effect for at least 3 years so I assume in this case the OP is talking about payments for this year

[treetops1]

I only get £74. The years bringing up children accounted for nothing.

[factor-fiction]

It's worth checking whether you can get credit for childcare responsibilities- linked to child benefit records

[sandyRoe]

Do 'pension credits' not bring it up to a certain level whatever your contribution record?

[factor-fiction]

Pension credit also depends on other income - eg private pension and also perhaps on her partners income (not sure about the latter though)

[Maydup]

I don't think Pension Credits apply if you have high savings, but I'm not sure - not quite old enough yet.

[ladyalex]

Pension credits are means tested, sandy, so if you have savings, what you can get is limited.
There is also savings credit, but that has been 'frozen ' in some way that I do not understand.

[factor-fiction]

Despite my best efforts when trying to help elderly relatives I never understood savings credit- it seemed that the more savings you had the pension credit was reduced and yet then some pensions savings credit was supposedly given for having savings. I couldn't make sense of it

[ladyalex]

You can get a pension forecast here:

http://www.direct.gov...nforecast/DG_10014008

And a pension credit estimate here:

http://www.direct.gov...nsionCredit/index.htm

[ladyalex]

I too help out an elderly relative with credits.
She eventually got savings credit, but this year it was reduced when her State Pension increased like everyone else's
It seemed unfair, but the system is so byzantine and arcane that courage failed me when it came to phoning the DWP and asking for an explanation.
AgeUK has a helpful Pension Credit calculator also, but the workings of the system go well over my head.

[puzzled54]

To Treetops1 - all the years you were receiving child benefit, you would have been credited with National Insurance, which counts towards your pension.

[hc4361]

There are many reasons why there is a difference in state pensions - some people paid into SERPS and get a higher pension. There have been other similar initiatives over the years and it is not unusual for one person's pension to be boosted by two, three or more of these payments.

These people have paid more into the state pension, though.

[ladyalex]

The Family Responsibilities bit only works for full years though...cannot remember whether they are tax years or calendar years, but know that I stopped work to have my son-and-heir in April of one year and started work again in March of the next and was not credited for that year...so-and-sos!

[treetops1]

It seems I did myself out of it as well Ladyalex, by always trying to have some kind of job. Small stamp in part time work when the children were little. Who could afford more on the wages in those days.

[ladybirder]

Factor >it seemed that the more savings you had the pension credit was reduced<
That's exactly how it was meant to work.

[ladyalex]

I paid the small stamp too when we were first married. I think most people did back then when money was tight.
I was able to add some years to my entitlement by 'buying back' years .
I have no idea how it was worked out either, but I think it was worth it.
Depends on how much money you have available, I guess...and how long you reckon you're going to live.

[rosamundjohn]

the £147 will be a joint pension. Her husband will have reached retirement age and she will have be born pre 1953/4. Stinks the whole business.....

[New Judge]

The pension forecast facility does not work if you are a woman aged over 60 but have not yet reached State pension age. (Women reaching 60 after April 2010 have had their State Pension age deferred). The DWP know about this but, although having had two years to cure the problem, have not been able to find the time to fix it nor even to have the courtesy to put a notice warning users of the problem.

Women using the service go through the quite lengthy rigmarole of applying for their forecast only to receive an error message at the end of the process.