State Pension collection conundrum

Polly_Sparky

My mother in law forgets to collect her pension from her local post office and now has built up quite a large amount of money. How can we help her collect this lump sum safely and put it somewhere to earn interest?

mania112

How much is it? It's in her bank account though isn't it?

Polly_Sparky

£2k - that's the balance when she puts the post office card in to withdraw her pension - is that an account? I'm in the dark and want to help

McKneff

Presumably she has a post office account where the money is sitting.


Does she have a bank account elswhere.

Does she get statements, if she isnt a tax payer and paying tax on the interest in this account she needs to claim any tax paid back.

Whatever bank account that she pays any tax on interest she should fill in an R85 so that she wont pay any tax.
Maybe she would be wise to look at ISAs

mania112

As above.

It might be wise to move the payments to her regular bank account (which i'm sure is possible) - I would think the Post Office could point you in the right direction in that regard.

Agree with ISA's.... or a nice holiday?

Polly_Sparky

My first problem is how does she physically move £2k out of the post office - £600 actual cash a day (daily limit I think) over 4 days or is there a safer way to do it?
Do I understand you are suggesting the pension is in an account and we could get it transferred maybe? And she is a tax payer

seven-day-weekend

Ask the post office how to get it transferred to her bank account.

Mojisola

Polly_Sparky wrote: »

My first problem is how does she physically move £2k out of the post office - £600 actual cash a day (daily limit I think) over 4 days or is there a safer way to do it?
Do I understand you are suggesting the pension is in an account and we could get it transferred maybe? And she is a tax payer

I assume you're talking about this account - https://www.postoffice.co.uk/post-office-card-account

The money will have to be withdrawn in stages because of the daily limit. Can't someone go with her so that she isn't alone when she withdraws the money?

As she's a tax payer, she must have other money coming in - what accounts is this in?

The post office has arrangements with some banks so she might be able to take out the cash and pay it straight into her bank account without leaving the counter.

Polly_Sparky

Well yes, she is of the old school who liked to go and collect it every week. Sadly now due to dementia she forgets to collect it. Asking the post office to pay it in straight away to her bank is a really good idea - I will check if they have that arrangement with Nationwide. Thanks very much.

Mojisola

Polly_Sparky wrote: »

Well yes, she is of the old school who liked to go and collect it every week. Sadly now due to dementia she forgets to collect it. Asking the post office to pay it in straight away to her bank is a really good idea - I will check if they have that arrangement with Nationwide. Thanks very much.

She will still have to go to the PO, take out the cash using her card and then pay it into her bank account with a bank paying-in slip.

atush

First of all, have you been to see the CAB or a solicitor? It sounds like you need to get a Power of Attorney (POA) for her due to her dementia.

Second, if she has a normal bank acct, she can be registered to receive the pension in that acct by DD, and the post office should be able to do a transfer.

I live in a small safe town, and walked 2K down the street from one bank to another xmas eve as I knew any chq deposit would take the better part of two weeks with all the holidays. But if you live in an area that is suspect you may not want to do this.