MSE News: The state pension top up – Martin's three-minute 'should you do it?' briefi

bobibhai

@pafpcg
I have to agree that as you set it out was my understanding, but the lady at DWP was quite firm in her explanation. Originally all I wanted to know was which department to write to in order to get a ruling in print, as the DWP website is less than clear. She went so far as to examine my Pension file and that of my wife before making her assertions.

My postings are exactly what she said- and we definitely discussed the impact of the £25. I agree that her assertions do not appear to be consistent with the promises that 'your spouse can inherit half on your death'.

Therefore I think the only solution is to write and seek a precise and quotable statement of facts. It is just possible that the situation which she set out is peculiar to widows who do not have a full pension in their own right, but I think we all need to be clear as apart from our own situations there are a great many women who paid the Married Woman's Stamp.

bobibhai

Well having now spent a considerable amount of time reading loads of 'informed' articles since my last posting, I think that my original belief (before seeking DWP clarification) was the same as that set out by pafpcg. So I shall seek a written ruling from DWP. The implication that the £25 stays with the owner(my wife) until death is clearly as indicated above ,but I cannot find any wording in any text covering the precise situation I enquired about. All I wanted to know was it worth buying my wife another £25 per week?

A one liner from the DWP lady today " Tell your wife not to waste her money and go out and buy a load of new shoes".

greenglide

DWP are wrong on this one.

The SP Top up is inheritable in the same way that all AP (Additional Pension is). Whether it is 100% or less (down to 50%) depends on ages etc.

AP is always kept separate in a pension, even if you don't get the full basic pension. If you look at the entitlement notice or the annual uprating notification you will see that the basic and AP are kept separate. This how it has always worked.

The real question however is why bur the top up? Deferring the pension gets you an extra 10% for each year. You can defer even if the pension is already in payment.

pafpcg

bobibhai wrote: »

A one liner from the DWP lady today "Tell your wife not to waste her money and go out and buy a load of new shoes".

I know the conversation took place on Friday the 13th, but is this for real? You must have built up some rapport with her to get that sort of comment!

I'd certainly be interested in a formal response from DWP - unfortunately, written responses always seem to take weeks or months....

PS: Whether buying the StatePension TopUp gives good value depends on personal circumstances, but remember the TopUp can be deferred just like the StatePension at the same 10.4% pa.

bobibhai

If this Forum is still running when and/or if I ever get a reply to my letter I shall post that official answer. A rapport? Perhaps? She said that a lot of people don't understand the 'TOP UP'. This of course was after I had related the frustrating telephone 'ping pong' which I had endured. Originally I rang the dedicated DWP number and was told by a young man that that office did not deal with pensions and the Top Up and thus he didn't know the answer. He gave me another number where I could get the answer. Guess what? It was HMRC where after numerous auto prompts I actually spoke to a HUMAN (!) who told me that HMRC did not deal with pensions and referred me to DWP at the number which I had just rung- which, incidentally is out of date as shown on the DWP website. Thus I rang again and spoke to the informative lady, who carefully and painstakingly took me through the widow's pension rules and did the arithmetic for me- which is correct- apart from the £25 now under discussion, and gave the assurance that 'you [my wife] can never get more' [than the figures as set out above] and she provided the assurance that because my wife's pension is currently so low the extra £25, if bought, would be swallowed up in raising her pension to what it would be upon my death, under the standard rules. Hence the last comment- the throw away line re 'buy the shoes'. So perhaps it is she who is amongst the many people who, to quote her words, 'Don't understand the Top Up'?

bobibhai

No- not a reply from DWP yet- no surprise there.
After posting the above I remembered that the same helpful woman also told me that wives accompanying men serving abroad on Home Service Terms get no credits for working whilst abroad or for HRP. I have researched the DWP websites and 'The Army Family' and I can find no reference to this. I have asked for a statement of whether this is correct or not. It affects my wife, who accompanied her first husband and took their school age children with them. She was BAOR in Germany for 3 years, looking after her children and working with a German company-part time.
Sorry to be so long in updating this, but my PC insists on deleting my entire History occasionally despite my having selected only certain items. I have only just found this 'blog' page again.

bobibhai

I have sent a letter of complaint to my front bench MP, requesting that the matter be forwarded to IDS as Minister for DWP. This usually works when a department ignores a letter.

bobibhai

Well the letter to my MP, Theresa May produced an apology and answers from Baroness Altmann. The reply confirms that as most forum users believed the Top Up, if purchased remains in place as an addition to any Widow's Pension gained from a husbands contribution record. The Top up dies with the woman so if her husband survives his wife the Top Up is lost.

Secondly she confirms that wives of servicemen taking children of Child Benefit age accompanying the spouse abroad are entitled to HRP credits for such years out of UK.

So the mature sounding woman on the Help Line was either ill informed, eccentric or mischievous.

In the matter of Servicemen's wives & HRP I shall resume my 3 year battle for another 2 years HRP credit for my wife. I eventually got her an extra 9 years Pension Credit but DWP refused to allow any credit for her time as part of the family who went to serve as BAOR in Germany.

bobibhai

I did not initially read the letter correctly so the posting re the situation re the Top Up in the event of a wife predeceasing her husband should be ignored.

pafpcg

Many thanks Bobibhai for getting a formal response on this issue, but may I ask you to check Baroness Altmann's letter?

Does she refer to "Widow's Pension" or to "CategoryB" State Pension? And does she clarify the position *before* a spouse dies?

CategoryB is what spouses of anyone who has a CategoryA State Pension (the "normal" full-rate pension) are entitled to if their own State Pension is less than the amount of the CategoryB (two-thirds of CategoryA). The State Pension Top-Up documentation specifically refers to the Top-Up being potentially of benefit to those women who paid only the Married-Womans National Insurance contribution (and thus no State Pension), many of whom now rely on a CategoryB pension based upon their husband's CategoryA pension; it would be perverse if this group could, in fact, not benefit from the Top-Up, as stated by your "buy shoes instead" informant at the DWP!

Is Baroness Altmann saying that married women in receipt of a CategoryB State Pension, may not benefit from their OWN Top-Up payment until after their husband dies?