old age pension

ktate

any info or help please
my wife can retire in november when she will be 61 years 11 months
she has worked all her life untill i became ill she now works 8 to 10 hours a week and claims income suport and carers allowence
she has had a letter off the pension people asking if she is continuing working or retirring we dont know what is the best any ideas are much appreciated

jamesd

Which pension people asked? What pension were they asking about? For the rest of this reply I will assume that she received a letter asking whether she wanted to claim her state pensions from November. Now is about normal for the time when someone who is eligible to claim it in November would receive one of those letters.

Claiming the state pension is completely unrelated to whether you continue to work or not. You can claim it and continue working or not claim it and top working if you like. Many people start to take the state pensions and continue to work. What they want to know is whether she wants to take the state pensions or not.

It seems that she is getting some means tested benefits. Those will have some effects on her choice. Because she is reaching the normal payment age of this pension, most means tested benefits will be calculated by assuming that she is getting the pension income, even if she doesn't claim it. She must tell the benefits people that she is getting the pension and how much it is. If she chooses not to take it, she must tell them that she has chosen not to take it and how much it would have been if she had taken it.

The state pensions are increased by 10.4% for each full year they are not taken after reaching state pension age. For part of a year, there is an increase in proportion to the time that they are not taken. For women in good health it is best not to take the state pension for about three years. Best meaning the time that is likely to get them the highest total payout from the state pensions over the rest of their life. This is part of why they must ask instead of just starting to pay automatically: it is not always the right choice to start at the first chance. It is also possible to start taking the state pensions, then stop once and restart. This stop and restart can only be done once.

Will she be entitled to any other pensions? Perhaps from the jobs she has done? When will those reach normal payment age?

atush

Well, can you/she live on just her SP, or will you need the additional income? Will she want the idependance continuing to work will give her? How will the SP affect income support? If it will all go, working won't disadvantage her. If not, it may make working not pay much if anything.

Who is she caring for (you?). that can continue if she is still working just 8-10 hours and feels up to it.

I think they are asking so they know what to report re tax code and if the pension needs taxing at source.

sleepless_saver

The income support and the carers allowance will both be affected when your wife claims her state pension whether or not she stops work, but she may become entitled to pension credit instead.

CAB should be able to help calculate what your total income as a couple would be if your wife stays in work and if she stops work. (Total income includes benefits, state pension, and pay if she is going to carry on working). No one on here can advise you on what would be best as we don't have the figures.

Deferring her state pension might not work to her advantage as it seems very likely that she would be entitled to pension credit from her state pension age so (if I remember rightly) would not be able to benefit from deferral.

jamesd

"she has worked all her life" implies that she's unlikely to end up entitled to Pension Credit. But since we don't know what the state pensions will pay we really don't know, beyond knowing that almost everyone who has been paying NI for their whole working life won't be eligible for Pension Credit because they would be getting more than £140 or so a week in state pensions. But working all her life also implies that she should have some company pensions, not mentioned either. Maybe she opted for the lower "married woman's" stamp and hugely cut her state pension entitlement that way, though.

So I agree that on the basis of the huge amount we don't know here, CAB is the way to go. At least they might get the information needed to work out her situation.

ktate

thank you all for the good replys it was her state pension she paid her own class 1 stamp and she gets a works pension now £63 a month we have made an appointment to see the cab has it seems that if she carries on working she will be worse off has she will lose her carers allowence and also income suport will be stopped has sleepless has said she now works 10 hours a week on min wage so someone who has worked all her life will be penalised if she carries on working why cant they just make the system easier but again thank you for your replys ill let you know what the cab says

atush

well, here's the thing.

Yes, she has worked all her life (and you- how long?) but you are not comfortable as you didn't save enough into pensions and elsewhere earlier. When you were both able and working.

Your wife is claiming benefits as I assume you are. But are coming up to retirement. And the SP (as benefits are supposed to be) are basically there as a safety net.

They are supposed to support only the basic needs (not leisure, luxuries like cigarettes/booze, not a holiday etc)- ie the Bread line. So, if you are worse off working it could be the change to a flat rate of pension w/o credits is the right thing. As perhaps the level of benefits are too high?

If you are not claiming any benefits, staying in work after retirement pays. AS there is a large amt of annual income over the SP level that is not taxed at all under your personal allowance. So you can earn over 4K+ (77 quid a week) w/o paying any tax.

sleepless_saver

ktate wrote: »

thank you all for the good replys it was her state pension she paid her own class 1 stamp and she gets a works pension now £63 a month we have made an appointment to see the cab has it seems that if she carries on working she will be worse off has she will lose her carers allowence and also income suport will be stopped has sleepless has said she now works 10 hours a week on min wage so someone who has worked all her life will be penalised if she carries on working why cant they just make the system easier but again thank you for your replys ill let you know what the cab says

It's true you can't get carers allowance at the same time as state pension but it will increase the amount of money the government says you as a couple need to live on when it calculates benefits (at least £250 a week excluding your DLA and probably more). CAB will let her see what your joint income would be with the different options. Hope it goes well.

ktate

thank you all for the replys we were never in any high wage jobs and we never had things we couldnt afford we dont smoke but we drink possably 4 cans on a friday has for holidays what are they last holiday we had was for my 50th birthday paid for by my two kids we both have health issues wifes just got over breast cancer chemo and radio i need new knees and hips diebetic and now got cancer wish i could go to work no one likes benifits so if someone healthy and young cant get any work then how are we surposed too my wife works has benifits arnt a safty net you choose food or warmth
now we did go and see the local cab and they were brill we were there two hours and even they couldnt work it out but they did do there best and worked out two ways of what to do but even they were well if you get this or that all too winded to print out so we arnt a lot wiser but again thank you for your replys

xylophone

Yes, she has worked all her life (and you- how long?) but you are not comfortable as you didn't save enough into pensions and elsewhere earlier. When you were both able and working.

Should we not avoid being judgemental? We have very little idea of the personal circumstances of this couple, of the work they were able to do, of any family concerns that they had etc - as for pensions, the OP's wife does have a small occupational pension - perhaps for much of her working life her employment was not pensionable?

She is now eligible for her state pension - this need not be the basic - indeed it is quite possible that she has some SERPS, graduated pension etc.

The OP is now too ill to work but presumably he too will qualify for his state pension at some point - again, he too may have SERPS etc.

It is all too easy for those who have had the good fortune to have had good occupational pension schemes, or good health or the wherewithal to make private pension provision, or all of these things to take a somewhat sanctimonious attitude to those who perhaps haven't?

xylophone

we did go and see the local cab and they were brill we were there two hours and even they couldnt work it out but they did do there best and worked out two ways of what to do but even they were well if you get this or that all too winded to print out so we arnt a lot wiser but again thank you for your replys

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/benefits_w/benefits_older_people_ew/benefits_for_people_over_sixty.htm

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/claiming-benefits/pension-credit/

may be worth a browse.