Incapacity and Moving in together

sleepless_saver

Mojisola wrote: »

If she's only 58, she's got a few years to go before she gets her pension.

Must be at least 5 years? http://pensions-service.direct.gov.uk/en/state-pension-age-calculator/home.asp

Dunroamin

krisskross wrote: »

Yes my husband gets almost twice basic pension.

Mine's about 75% more - it was a lovely surprise!

krisskross

Dunroamin wrote: »

Mine's about 75% more - it was a lovely surprise!

Indeed, so was his. Still don't really understand all the extra bits. I know the cost of living has gone up since we last worked but we have more money now then we did then.

Dunroamin

gregbythesea wrote: »

I honestly don't know of anyone in my circle of friends that receive just the basic state pension. The average seems to be about £180 a week. Mine, according to the latest forecast will be £173.87 a week.

Mind you it is all a con anyhow. For a start you have to pay tax at 20% on it and if you hadn't have worked much and spent your life on benefits you can currently get £143 a week minimum with no tax to pay, from pension credit!

After tax my state pension will be £139.10, meaning I will be £4 a week worse off for working - and they say working pays, not to me it doesn't!!!

Just doesn't seem right that an extra £30 gross a week is all I would get for working 44 years without a break earning a good salary when compared to some that have never worked in their lives.

Even the under 65 personal tax allowance is £155 per week, meaning that you would pay less than £4 tax on £173.87, leaving you £170 net, which is £27 more than pension credit.

Pollycat

Mojisola wrote: »

If she's only 58, she's got a few years to go before she gets her pension.

Very good point.
I'm female, nearing age 59 and won't get my state pension until July 2018.

Just_About_60

I am a 59yr old lady who will be sixty very shortly and I was in receipt of incapacity benefit until this month when I was moved to the ESA benefit. In this benefit there are two groups, Support Group and Work Related Activity group. If the lady you refer to is put into the WRAG then her benefit will stop after a year as it is contribution based, however if she is put into the Support Group then it is not contribution based and she will get it for as long as she remains in that group. This means until pension age. If she remains single and has doesn't have savings of more than £6000 then she will be able to claim income related ESA but not if she is living with a partner who has the income you have mentioned. The lady will also have some time to go before she gets her pension. I believe mine is due in 2015. As the lady has high rates of DLA for care and mobility it sounds as though she may well meet the crieria for the Support Group. I would suggest when she gets the ESA50 form to fill in that she gets some expert help with it as she will need to meet at least one of the descriptors to get put into the Support Group.

McKneff

gregbythesea wrote: »

OK have it your way. Even on your own figures I will be only £27 a week better off for having worked 44 years on a damn good salary, paid tax, nic, than someone who decided that they didn't particularly fancy having to be away from home for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week and lived a life on benefits.

And you seriously accept that £27 a week is justified?

The gap is too close, it should be the case that the difference is wide enough that will show that working does actually pay!

If only I had known what I know now, my life would have been so different. Career - waste of time, you are £27 a week better off when you retire, probably knackered and missed out on the children growing up.
Looking back I should have set a target of a max of 10 years actual working out of the possible 44, with the rest made up of various benefits and had more time at home with my wife and children taking them on regular holidays as well as enjoying my hobbies.

I now realise why in families that I know where no one works they seem to have a happier life instead of a grumpy and tired husband coming home at night worrying about problems at work to be sorted the following day.

I sometimes think this way as I worked hard all my life, but I comfort myself by just reminding my self that:-

Self Respect is Priceless. Do you not agree.

epitome

Cranny44 wrote: »

Hi yes she is on incapacity with an income support top up (SDP) she hasnt worked for several years now due to ill health not too concerned about the swop to ESA as she is almost 59 so nearing state pension and, as she hasnt yet been contacted about ESA yet hopefully would be switching to SRP before the ESA claim ran out.

So would she keep the incap still in this situation?

I don't claim to know all about IB and IS top ups. But if she has just got a £0.00 claim for IB but all her money is actually IS (as is the case for some people) Then she would lose all her IS when she moves in with partner.

If I was her, I would find out exactly how much IB pays her and how much IS pays her.

Dunroamin

gregbythesea wrote: »

OK have it your way. Even on your own figures I will be only £27 a week better off for having worked 44 years on a damn good salary, paid tax, nic, than someone who decided that they didn't particularly fancy having to be away from home for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week and lived a life on benefits.

And you seriously accept that £27 a week is justified?

The gap is too close, it should be the case that the difference is wide enough that will show that working does actually pay!

If only I had known what I know now, my life would have been so different. Career - waste of time, you are £27 a week better off when you retire, probably knackered and missed out on the children growing up.
Looking back I should have set a target of a max of 10 years actual working out of the possible 44, with the rest made up of various benefits and had more time at home with my wife and children taking them on regular holidays as well as enjoying my hobbies.

I now realise why in families that I know where no one works they seem to have a happier life instead of a grumpy and tired husband coming home at night worrying about problems at work to be sorted the following day.

If you're only £27 pw better off than someone who's never worked, perhaps you should question the decisions you made regarding pensions? Some of us have almost as much income in retirement as we did when we were working, allowing for the lack of work based expenses.