Spouse NI credits towards pension while overseas?

br1anstorm

My reply at #40 was essentially a response to #37 and #38 and clearly overlapped with xylophone's latest at #39.....

One thing is pretty certain (and was not really ever in doubt). The civil service pension scheme clearly was "contracted out" when that was a relevant consideration. So it seems to follow that I'm unlikely to get much, if any, Additional State Pension.

I will have a go at working through my own figures as in the teacher's example quoted in #39, although I'm not entirely sure of the actual figure I should use for the NI modification: I guess it may be £1.70 x 5 (as I think I had 5 years of 'reckonable service' before 1980). Nor do I know what % figure will have been used to work out the 'inflation' increase since I started collecting my pension at age 60 (though I can try to calculate it).

I'm now just a few weeks away from my state pension age of 65, and have so far heard nothing from MyCSP describing how my pension payment and/or any future increase is to be "split", and how GMP affects this if at all.

And with reference to the comment above that

"The GMP is the Contracted Out Deduction that will be shown on your State Pension Statement"..... the state pension statement I did get from DWP in December (which says it is an estimate....) says absolutely nothing about a Contracted Out Deduction!

So the mysteries remain. My position on GMP is still opaque: no mention of a COD in my DWP state pension 'estimate' and zeros in all my annual Civil Service pension statements for both pre and post 1988 GMP, even though I appear to qualify. So I still don't know whether or how this will affect the way future increases are calculated for both my occupational Civil Service pension and/or for my State pension (whenever I choose to collect it). And it's still not entirely clear how the "NI modification" - which does seem to apply to me - will impact on either or both of those pensions.

I really do hope the MyCSP reply to the written enquiry I have just sent them will provide detailed and specific answers!

xylophone

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/your-state-pension-statement-explained-before.pdf?rev=0

As far as I can see from the above, your statement simply shows your AP position net of the COD as far as it was then calculated.

To obtain your actual COD and all other details as shown in the post to which I referred in my last, you need to claim?

Why not telephone the number given on page 21 of the above to discuss your position?

My CSP should now be in a position to give you your breakdown on your scheme pension.

Has your wife heard from DWP?

br1anstorm

Thanks again for latest thoughts...

I had not actually put in a claim for my state pension as I was still hoping/intending to defer (and indeed phoned the DWP to say so). I don't want, by making a claim, to trigger the payment immediately.

I have written (and emailed a copy of the letter) to MyCSP seeking a full statement or clarification of the position of my Civil Service pension regarding GMP, NIM, and the implications of deferring the state pension, since I think it's easier for them, and certainly for me, to have the queries (and answers) set out in writing.

Interestingly, I have had an auto-reply email from MyCSP saying they are "prioritising" the handling of enquiries, and if my query is about overdue or missed payments, or if I'm within 2 weeks of retirement or state pension age (which I am), I should phone them. So it looks as if I'll be phoning them anyway!

And no, no reply yet regarding my wife's position. In fact we filled in the online form requesting a statement of her NI record in mid-December and got an auto-reply from the HMRC NI office saying it will take several weeks and be sent by post. We sought the NI statement first, because as she has already passed her state pension age the DWP apparently won't provide an estimate/forecast of her state pension; they will only respond if she actually claims her pension! We want to find out what her contribution record is, and whether she can boost it, or whether she has to rely on my NI record and seek a Cat B pension, before she actually requests for it to start being paid.

br1anstorm

A slightly depressing update. The MyCSP auto-reply to my email seeking clarification of my own pension position (GMP and the implications of deferring state pension) said that if I was within two weeks of retirement/state pension age, I should phone them.

Well, I've tried. More than once. The record so far is over 30 minutes hanging on the phone and listening to muzak, and still no contact. Not even a 'leave your number and we'll ring back' option.

Those following the other threads about MyCSP will not be surprised. As an ex-civil servant myself, I find it astonishing that this situation hasn't already become a politically-embarrassing scandal with Ministers being called to account. Not the only example of a government agency proving inadequate or incompetent (the list seems to be getting longer - Child Support Agency, Care Quality Commission, Passport Agency etc etc). Does there have to be an outcry in the press, MPs questions in Parliament, or marching in the streets before remedial action is taken?

Meanwhile I wonder how long it will be before MyCSP get round to dealing with the written enquiry that I have sent by email and by post.

atush

Have you actuall called DWP with your wife and asked about her contribution record? I got it over the phone once? The no of years etc.

If you are both SPA before april 2016, and you have a full basic SP, she will get at least a 60% of basic SP as her amt as she can use your contribution record?

xylophone

Meanwhile I wonder how long it will be before MyCSP get round to dealing with the written enquiry that I have sent by email and by post.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5158485

Update-my friend got a CETV from MyCSP yesterday-only 6 days!!! However, they've got a lot of information wrong so she now has another lot of questions to ask, as well as the original lot I've given her. In the letter it does not say anything about being unable to transfer , so I've added that to her list of questions. Watch this space!

Losing the will to live? If it weren't so sad it would be farcical!:(

Alter_ego

Following this thread as I recently deferred state pension. Phoned my state sector DB pension provider and asked if I should inform them of deferrment. They said no as HMRC will inform them of anything concerning my GMP.

xylophone

Following this thread as I recently deferred state pension. Phoned my state sector DB pension provider and asked if I should inform them of deferrment. They said no as HMRC will inform them of anything concerning my GMP.

They may well do so.

But the USS administrator specifically says

.Please inform USS if you decide to defer drawing your state
benefits.

and the TPS

"If you defer your state pension
please inform us as this may
affect the increases applied to
your pension."

br1anstorm

atush wrote: »

Have you actuall called DWP with your wife and asked about her contribution record? I got it over the phone once? The no of years etc.

If you are both SPA before april 2016, and you have a full basic SP, she will get at least a 60% of basic SP as her amt as she can use your contribution record?

Thanks, atush - answer to the question about phoning the DWP is, not yet. But in another week or two we may well try doing so.

When I sought a statement of my own NI record by submitting the online form, I got a letter and detailed statement by post after - I think - about a month.

We are indeed both SPA before April 16. I do have a full-ish (42 years) NI record so qualify for full pension. And I am sure you are right, my wife would get 60% of the rate (otherwise labelled a Cat B pension, I believe) on the basis of my record. But we'd still like to know exactly what her own NI record is before concluding that a 60% rate on the back of my NI contribs is the best or only option she has....

br1anstorm

Mainly because other forum members (xylophone, kidmugsy...) have been extremely helpful in this thread, and because it seems others are following the discussion, I'm posting an update.

The question in my original post was about whether my spouse, whose NI contribution record was patchy because of having lived overseas, could boost her own NI contribs, would get any state pension in her own right, or would have to rely on a pro-rata (Cat state pension based on my NI record. On that, no further news. We still await a statement from the NI people of exactly how many years of NI credit she has.

Meanwhile the other question under discussion is what happens to my Civil Service pension when I hit state pension age (SPA - 65 years) this month. It appeared that because I had some entitlement to a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP), the way in which annual pension-increases would be paid after SPA would change, with part of the increase paid with my Civil Service pension and part with my state pension. Fine. But the unanswered question was - what would happen if I opted to defer my state pension? How would the increase(s) be paid? Would my CS pension go down because they assumed that I was now actually collecting my state pension?

In the light of suggestions from posters in this thread, I therefore informed MyCSP (the civil service pensions-administrator) that I was considering deferring my state pension; and asked then what the implications of that would be for my CS pension and its GMP component.

I have now had a letter in reply. I am not entirely sure it offers any enlightenment! It says (and I try to summarise) :

• because the CS pension scheme was contracted out of the State Second pension (Serps, or S2P) and I thus paid reduced NI, it is the responsibility of the PCSPS to pay the additional pension I would have received from S2P if I had paid full NI. This is known as the GMP...
• it then says that I have been in receipt of my CS pension since age 60, and it exceeds the GMP, so no additional pension is payable.
• it then sets out a table of pre-and post-1988 GMP increases "in line with the contracting-out rules" which indicates that I get no pre-88 GMP increase, that I get a post-88 GMP increase in line with the PCSPS to a max of 3%, and that my "excess pension over GMP" increases in line with the PCSPS.

Clear so far? Not really.

The MyCSP letter then goes on to say that from State pension age my "pension splits" (eh?) will be [it gives the exact figures, I am putting in approx amounts]:

• pre-88 GMP - just under £2k
• post-88 GMP - just over £1k
• "excess pension" - what appears to be the remainder of my CS pension, which is between £30 and £40k.

From this I deduce that I will continue to receive more-or-less the same CS pension as I am getting now, but that the way it is calculated on the books is slightly different...

But that's not all. The letter then says that under the NI legislation of 1948, "your Civil Service pension will need to be reduced once you reach your State pension age...... and that my CS pension "....will be abated by £1.70 for each year of reckonable service up to 31 March 1980, subject to a max of £67.75 per annum. Pension increases are then applied to this figure".

Er, run that by me again? (The underlining is mine). And does this happen irrrespective of whether I actually claim my state pension or opt to defer it?

And on what I thought was the key question - what (else?) happens to my CS pension (and its annual RPI increases) if I do indeed choose to defer my State pension? - the letter says nothing.

I'm not sure now whether I am just being dim, or whether the MyCSP explanation is less clear than I was expecting. I look forward to seeing how much CS pension I get this month, or next, now that I am 65, compared to what I have been receiving in recent years before I reached SPA.