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Being stupid or doing the right thing?

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  • liketoknow
    liketoknow Posts: 107 Forumite
    xylophone wrote: »
    You live alone and have health problems.

    You inherited your house mortgage free but have no savings and have been living on about £152 a week.

    It appears that despite this low income you are only getting the single person's CT reduction - are you sure that you are not entitled to more?

    What has happened to your application for PIP?

    With regard to the pension currently administered by Aon, (but soon to be administered by Hymans Robertson) it is very important that you establish what type of pension this is and your entitlement.

    It seems likely that you have a deferred DB pension. If so, you have almost certainly reached (or at the limit are about to reach) Scheme Normal Retirement Age.

    If Scheme NRA was 60, and it is one of the schemes that did not pay Late Retirement Increases, then you could have lost out by not claiming your pension when it fell due.

    I think I did look into the council tax situation and don't think I qualified. I suppose I am an old fashioned sort of person and don't really like claiming benefits, I have always worked and tried to pay my own way. Having said that, I view the pensions as different in that I am automatically entitled to them.
    I could have claimed WTC years before I did but again. I didn't think I would qualify, I was single and somehow got it into my head that only families were eligible. It was only when a friend really got onto me that I looked into it and found I could claim it. It has been a Godsend as I would be struggling to manage even more without it. I would really like to still be able to claim it if I can work it into the equation.

    As for the PIP application, I put in for that mid March. I received a text to say that they have received the form and would be in touch. I know from ringing the helpline that there is a backlog, especially since people are being transferred from DLA to PIP, of around 16 weeks. I will probably have to go for a F2F assessment. I am not holding out much hope of getting it to be honest as I know there is a high rate of people being turned down, some that are probably worse off then me. I will appeal though as I think I do have a good case.
    If I could hold onto my WTC, that would increase significantly if I was entitled to the enhanced rate of daily living of PIP, but we will have to see what happens with that.
    If I got that, I would probably have no need to have touched either of the pensions.

    I suppose one thing that bothers me is that I don't have much as regards family. I have a brother who has only been given a short time to live, due to cancer. He has a son, who I don't want to inherit anything of mine and a step daughter who will inherit probably most of whatever I leave, although I do have some small charities I want to help.
    If I have all this money deferred, it might get to the stage I die before having claimed any of it, so I would be saving it for others to get the benefit of instead of for me to be able to claim. I am not a spendthrift, I have not really had any money to spare but it would be really nice to have some money for myself for a change. I have worked all my life and I am sick of saying, 'I can't afford it' when considering things I want or want to do. Now it just seems that with all these small pots, I do actually have some money that is now available, hence the decision to take the SP to at least try and get my debts settled and ease the pressure a bit. I have probably buried my head in the sand a bit.

    Please don't be too hard on me about being naive about these things, I am trying my very best to get my head around it and I do appreciate your help.
  • oldtractor
    oldtractor Posts: 2,262
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
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    liketoknowTHANK YOU for starting this thread. It has been so helpful. I, like you am not savvy re pensions I have no idea what DB or whatever the things are, mean. its all very very confusing, as is the benefits situation , pension credit WTC all of it. its quite nightmareish. I am sure the majority of the population don't understand the complexities and its very easy to make the wrong decision and miss out. I haven't a clue what the people advising are talking about and the whole thing just gets worse and worse. Hope you get sorted xx
  • liketoknow
    liketoknow Posts: 107 Forumite
    oldtractor wrote: »
    liketoknowTHANK YOU for starting this thread. It has been so helpful. I, like you am not savvy re pensions I have no idea what DB or whatever the things are, mean. its all very very confusing, as is the benefits situation , pension credit WTC all of it. its quite nightmareish. I am sure the majority of the population don't understand the complexities and its very easy to make the wrong decision and miss out. I haven't a clue what the people advising are talking about and the whole thing just gets worse and worse. Hope you get sorted xx

    I am so glad that you have posted this reply too, thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only one not savvy about it and I have to admit that a lot of the things said in the thread when I started it, went completely over my head too. I have had to sit and read it over and over again to try and understand what they were saying too, some of it still confuses me, I don't always know the terms they are using or what things are, I have had to google some of them to find out.
    All I can say is I think I am now beginning to get my head around it, so please, persevere, keep reading this thread over and over again, read the thread that xylophone quoted the link of http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5580163 which explains the tax relief bit a lot clearer.
    At first I felt that I was just being bombarded with questions that I couldn't answer, I am sure it and my naivety must have been exasperating for those trying to help. I am so glad that they have taken the time to persevere as I am now beginning to understand it a bit more.

    Please, feel free to join in and ask any questions you want, they might help me too, even if you get asked to start your own thread.
  • liketoknow
    liketoknow Posts: 107 Forumite
    oldtractor, I should have added that I hope that you too get sorted when the time comes, if it hasn't already. xx
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,719
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    If you could just say, who you worked for, it might become clearer re DB or DC pension.
  • liketoknow
    liketoknow Posts: 107 Forumite
    It was Wimpey Construction.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,138
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    Notice how xylophone thinks it's defined benefit and I think it's defined contribution? That's probably partly due to the "defined balance lump sum death benefit" which sounds a bit more like defined benefit. Mostly it means that we really need the real answer not to try to work it out. We'll just do a double take once we know the real answer.

    Yes, it is pointless trying to guess - and you will remember from previous posts from other members of the forum that DB/DC is not always clear cut..... remember this one?

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5601877
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,138
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    It was Wimpey Construction.

    http://ferrierpearce.com/portfolio/taylor-wimpey

    Mentions Aon so I think that it must be this Scheme.

    https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/june-2010-online/taylor-wimpey-to-close-legacy-db-scheme-to-future-accrual/

    The OP seems to have worked for Wimpey so I think must have been in their DB Scheme for around 5 years, say 1978 - 1983?

    They were almost certainly contracted out - I would expect the State Pension statement to show a COD if so.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,138
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    OP, do you have a "Statement of Deferred Benefits" from when you left Wimpey?
  • liketoknow
    liketoknow Posts: 107 Forumite
    xylophone wrote: »
    OP, do you have a "Statement of Deferred Benefits" from when you left Wimpey?

    Sorry, no I don't.
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