Post April 2016 state pension

MoneySavingTart

Has there been any further info on this since announcement in 2011?
I've read suggestions that the amount might be anywhere between £144 and £155 per week.
I was born (male) Nov 53 which means I just sneak into the last of those with a state pension age of 65 and therefore should draw the new style "flat" state pension from Nov 2018.

I started to use the Govt online calculator which asked for how many qualifying years I had. Sent off for an official written statement of qualifying years - answer 38 years. I read that I only need 35 years for the full pension under the new scheme. So why did they suggest I might like to buy 6 more years to cover the period since I stopped work (2009) - Is this a con??

When I plugged 38 years back into the calculator together with DOB etc it came back with £115.95 which seems to be the current basic pension figure not one from the post April 2016 rules.

So any suggestions when we will know what is actually provided by the new scheme? Does the Govt. even know? it is only 9 months before it starts!

TIA

Bob

kidmugsy

There's a Budget next week.

MoneySavingTart

True - but they tend to be the headline grabbing changes rather than clarification of earlier budget announcements.
We will see......

Bob

xylophone

You are over 55 and so should be able to obtain a statement showing your position under the new scheme.

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

Complete the questionnaire and you will receive a statement in the post.

MoneySavingTart

Have you done this by any chance? Do you know that a postal one will be any more accurate than the online one which does seem to be in error.

My hope would be that the online one would either say the correct figure or own up to say "to be determined" or £x plus inflation etc etc

Bob

p00hsticks

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

Has there been any further info on this since announcement in 2011?

Well, there have been dozens, if not hundreds of threads on the topic here....

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

I've read suggestions that the amount might be anywhere between £144 and £155 per week.

If only it were that simple.... the "single tier" rate effective from April 2016 isn't know yet - the latest pension forecasts are I think using a figure of £155.95 - but because of the transition rules in place it's going to be a good few years before everyone is just getting that "flat" rate.

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

I was born (male) Nov 53 which means I just sneak into the last of those with a state pension age of 65 and therefore should draw the new style "flat" state pension from Nov 2018.

So as xylophone says, get a pension forecast - from the sound of it you're not working at present so this is likely to be your 'foundation amount' for the new single tier pension as at 5th April 2016 - this 'foundation amount' is whichever is the higher value of your entitlement under the current and new rules.

If you've been contracted out for all of your working life, yours may only be equivalent to what you'd get under the current rules (£115.95), but if you've built up a lot of SERPS or S2P it could be considerable higher than the new £155(ish) single tier rate, and the government will still honour this.

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

I read that I only need 35 years for the full pension under the new scheme.

Not quite. If you were contracted out for any of those 35 years there will be a deduction made, to compensate for the fact you were paying less NI than someone who was contracted in.

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

So why did they suggest I might like to buy 6 more years to cover the period since I stopped work (2009) - Is this a con??

There's no benefit in doing so at the moment.

If your foundation amount as at 6/4/16 is below the "single tier" rate of around £155 (whcih as explained before, it could be if you have been contracted out) then it may be beneficial to buy additional years from then until your retirement age, as each year will add 1/35th of the rate (around £4.45) to the weekly entitlement up to the maximum £155.

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

So any suggestions when we will know what is actually provided by the new scheme?

When they calculate everyones 'foundation amount' as at 5/4/16

Daniel54

Comprehensive reply from poohsticks

The calculator on gov.uk is not applicable to people over 55 - both it and every other online calculator will not take into account your actual NI contributions.If you follow the link given by Zylophone it will take you through to the form you need to fill in for a state pension forecast.It can take some time - I obtained mine earlier this year and it took about 10 weeks

MoneySavingTart

Thanks for the detailed responses. despite only having one job over 33 years, my pension scheme history is quite complex as the company changed ownership and state rules came and went.
I certainly had some period during my employment contracted out and recieved a govt incentive for doing so into a personal pension during the 80s. I think there was another period of being contracted out whereby my employers pension fund took that incentive and built it in to their scheme and as a result we went from a 1/60ths basis to 1/45ths basis. For the last few years, I think I was contracted back in but the dates are vague in my memory. I've now sent off the formal statement request where hopefully the DWP will have a record of my contracted in/out status.

Hopefully we can call this thread closed. Thank you all

bigfreddiel

MoneySavingTart wrote: »

Have you done this by any chance? Do you know that a postal one will be any more accurate than the online one which does seem to be in error.

My hope would be that the online one would either say the correct figure or own up to say "to be determined" or £x plus inflation etc etc

Bob

I sent the forms for my pension due next July, only three months into the new scheme. Took about 8 weeks and they give you two figures, one for the existing scheme and one for the new. You get the higher of the two estimates.

But this still not the full story. The amount the new scheme will actually pay hasn't been decided yet, all the figures given so far are only estimates. The actual amount will be revealed late this year.

Cheers fj

molerat

The latest "dumbed down" (because people could not understand the bold writing stating this is the amount you will get) forecasts only give one figure.

madeinireland_2

So just a quick additional question on this - I am 54 and will be 55 in March 2016.

Am I right in thinking it's pointless me asking for a state pension forecast now ? and when is the best time to do that so I get the correct figures ?

Thanks