Spouse NI credits towards pension while overseas?

kidmugsy

br1anstorm wrote: »

But maybe I've got that wrong.

You certainly have.

br1anstorm wrote: »

my wife has a very patchy NI record. We have requested details of how many years' contributions she has, but reckon it's probably less than 10 ... she is a non-taxpayer!

my wife is entitled to a state pension of some kind (Cat A or Cat with effect from her own state pension age (which she reached in May 2013).
I am also struggling to figure out whether (a) she can, and should, now claim whatever lump sum she may be entitled to and which has been de facto deferred since May 2013 (her state pension age); and (b) whether she can then also seek, and receive from now on (or from my state pension age in Feb 2015), a Cat B ongoing pension payment based on my NI record.

One of us is going to have to read this, and it isn't going to be me.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/372563/dwp026-state-pension.pdf

UPDATE: and also
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

kidmugsy

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181235/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/372563/dwp026-state-pension.pdf

br1anstorm

Thanks, kidmugsy, for those documents. I'm off to wrap a towel round my head and then find a quiet corner to do some serious homework! No gain without pain....

greenglide

kidmugsy wrote: »

Do you mean entitlement to a Lump Sum, or to an Extra Pension?

Neither.

The total entitlement over the deferment period (the total sum which would have been paid) is calculated and the increments or lump sum calculated from that.

This includes any changes to the award such as from CAT-A to Cat-B etc and any rate changes.

This always happens - you defer what you would have got.

br1anstorm

xylophone wrote: »

With regard to deferring your state pension see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/372517/dwp024-102014.pdf

as you have not understood the rules.

No doubt you understand what you will receive from your Civil Service pension but if you will need to deal with My CSP, you might need to get your skates on if you require forms etc...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5056343


http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS19_State_Pension_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true might be worth a look.

Thanks, xylophone, for that warning and information. I have just looked at that MyCSP thread. It paints an alarming picture. I hope those who are having difficulties manage to get things resolved. But I shall look more closely from now on at how my own pension is being managed!

Fortunately (?) I have been receiving my civil service pension since 2010, and Capita seemed to administer it adequately. We'll have to see whether MyCSP maintains the service. For the moment I don't think I need any forms from them, or any change to my (civil service) pension. My current task is essentially to sort out my - and more importantly my wife's - state pension, over which I very much hope MyCSP has no control!

xylophone

over which I very much hope MyCSP has no control!

No, but there is an interaction between your CS pension and your state pension.

http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/media/14453/pensioners_newsletter_2013.pdf

If you defer your state pension you may well need to advise My CSP because of the GMP situation.

See the information on page 23 of this booklet for a scheme similar to your own, http://www.uss.co.uk/Guides%20and%20Booklets/Retiring%20from%20the%20Scheme%20FS.pdf


also page 5 and 6 of https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/council-and-democracy/pensions/LGPS/guide-effect-state-pension-LGPS.pdf

br1anstorm

xylophone - that is VERY interesting and important. Many thanks for flagging it up (I would have remained blissfully unaware otherwise). I still have to figure out exactly how that interaction between my civil service pension and the state pension works.

I was aiming to defer my state pension for perhaps a year or two. But if my civil service pension from age 65 onwards is reduced (or doesn't get the full index-linking increase) because MyCSP assumes I have started receiving the state pension, then this makes deferral less sensible.

Hmm - even more homework needed!

kidmugsy

br1anstorm wrote: »

I was aiming to defer my state pension for perhaps a year or two. But if my civil service pension from age 65 onwards is reduced (or doesn't get the full index-linking increase) because MyCSP assumes I have started receiving the state pension, then this makes deferral less sensible.

Isn't it likely to be increased rather than reduced? And therefore more sensible rather than less?

br1anstorm

kidmugsy wrote: »

Isn't it likely to be increased rather than reduced? And therefore more sensible rather than less?

Well, kidmugsy, that was what I thought - or expected. I was poised to defer my state pension at least for a year or two. I had assumed that my main (employment-derived) civil service pension which I have been receiving since age 60 would simply continue as usual, with the normal, if modest,annual increase based on inflation.

But the guidance in the links provided by xylophone makes me wonder. He points out that there is a linkage between the civil service pension and the state pension. In particular, the Cabinet Office newsletter explanation of Guaranteed Minimum Pension (for which I qualify, as the Civil Service scheme opted out of SERPS), says that after state pension age, the annual [civil service] pension increase is "worked out differently". Hmmm, how exactly? It suggests the increase is paid partly with the civil service (PCSPS) pension and partly by DWP via the state pension, thus: "the Government pays the increase on the GMP part of your pension with your State pension".

That appears to indicate that the civil service pension administrators (now MyCSP) assume that from age 65 at least part of the annual CS pension increase (reflecting index-linking, and to ensure the Guaranteed Minimum) is delivered by the state pension. So do they abate (reduce, or limit the increase in) your CS pension accordingly?

Which leaves me wondering - what happens to the actual amounts of either, or both, my civil service and state pension if I defer the latter?

xylophone

For an explanation of how the State pension and Civil Service pension are likely to interact, see page 3 onwards of the https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/council-and-democracy/pensions/LGPS/guide-effect-state-pension-LGPS.pdf


but for RPI read CPI.

It seems to me that if you are going to defer you should let the Occupational Scheme Administrator know, or at least check if you should?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4532605

See post 33 of above- have you had anything similar from MyCSP?