State pension let down

bigfreddiel

gfplux wrote: »

Remember that the best deal for the State Pension is to have it paid WEEKLY.
I seem to remember the default is Monthly.

why is weekly better - could you define the exact difference in cash terms please?

fj

dawyldthing

well by the time i retire either a) there will be no pensions as we can't afford them or 2) we'll be over 70 before we can retire.

Milarky

There are other age-related anomalies too. You don't get 'SERPS'/'State Second Pension'/[or whatever it will be called in the future] credit* for the full time up to your 65th birthday. Can't remember exactly but the main point is they'll always use 'whole' tax years to determine benefit but no one can change which day in the year they qualify - so you could be paying upto 12 months for no added benefit. This would mean your SERPS was calculated to give a lower ongoing figure than strictly according to the period you may be paying into the system.

Then those winter fuel payments are qualified only if you are 60 on a day in September - what happens if you were born in late September? You effectively don't get the Winter Fuel payment until you are 61.

It's as though the Government of Lloyd George or Atlee never came across the concept of a pro-rata amount

*this is separate from the 'basic' old age pension - although they are due for merger in a few years anyway, removing this particular anomaly.

custardy

dawyldthing wrote: »

well by the time i retire either a) there will be no pensions as we can't afford them or 2) we'll be over 70 before we can retire.

Im in my 30's and am assuming another 40 years of work ahead of me
well theres always the release of death

le_loup

bigfreddiel wrote: »

why is weekly better

Because to take it four-weekly, you get it in arrears as you do if its weekly. Isn't this exactly what the OP was moaning about?

le_loup

Milarky wrote: »

It's as though the Government of Lloyd George or Atlee never came across the concept of a pro-rata amount

Gosh! I didn't know that Winter Fuel payments went that far back!
... and even non-pro-rata was just a little bit better than what people were getting before; like, erm, nothing.

bigfreddiel

le_loup wrote: »

Because to take it four-weekly, you get it in arrears as you do if its weekly. Isn't this exactly what the OP was moaning about?

Hmmmmm..... the post was:

Originally Posted by gfplux
Remember that the best deal for the State Pension is to have it paid WEEKLY

Surely gfplux doesn't mean what you are trying to say which I think is that you are four weeks in arrears if paid monthly and only a week in arrears if paid weekly - what would you actually be losing? Surely not!

Besides all my working life I've been paid in arrears so whats the differnce?

cheers

fj

Gracchus_Babeuf

Selina_54 wrote: »

I reached 65 on the 2nd of the month but have been told by the pension office they will only start paying my pension from the 8th the the month. They told me this was due to the pension only being paid from the first pay date after you reach 65. I will loose out 6 days pension. How can they get away with this. I have paid for 50 years towards my state pension and expected to be paid from my 65th birthday. How much are they making out of all of the pensions coming up. Has anyone else experienced this?

HELLO??? Are you serious or is this a wind-up?

You worry about losing a few days of pension? Who the hell cares?
What about future retirees who will lose YEARS of pension as a result of the government suddenly 'deciding' that we are all going to live to 100? I am now due to retire at 66, and if the scum who run our country wish to link state retirement age to fanciful projected life expectancy figures, then I may have have to wait until 70 or later.

kidmugsy

"What about future retirees who will lose YEARS of pension as a result of the government suddenly 'deciding' that we are all going to live to 100? " There was nothing sudden about it. The rise to 65 for women was announced about 15 years ago, the rise to 68 for men about, what, three years ago. It might have been done more slowly if Brown and Blair hadn't ruined the public finances, but something would have had to be done anyway. People have been living longer, and the bulge in the population is retiring soon.

dzug1

le_loup wrote: »

It is...........

Well put it this way - I wasn't offered it. If I had been I'd probably have taken it.