New flat rate state pension April 2016 - Actual Amounts

greenglide

What's the best way for me to contact them to get as much info as possible for self and spouse. I want to know exact years in/out/shake-it-all-about, and the calculations for old and new.

A data protection print from the HMRC NIRS2 (now part of the NPS system) has always been the favourite but you would get a shed load of paper and will spend ages deciphering it all.

The NI contributions statement from HMRC does have options as to the data supplied - it does ask what you are looking for - https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/NIStatement

The old rules / new rules calculations you would presumably have to do your self. The print would give you the full dataset required, this is what DWP and HMRC use, there is no more anywhere else.

JezR

As the NAO said in their report on the failure to inform the public of reduced pension rights for widows and widowers between 1986 and 1999:

Government departments do not have a duty to provide information on changes in the law, but where they do issue such material, they have a legal responsibility to ensure that it is accurate and complete.

In the SERPS inheritance affair, the various parties involved over the years failed to update information leaflets as to its intended halving from 2000 and hence failed the second part of this.

In the case of the reduction of state pension age though the leaflets were changed almost immediately after the act was passed - and of course loads have been provided on the details of nSP, even if misunderstood.

gadgetmind

saver861 wrote: »

It is to do with the bad scent of attempting to hide the bad news part of the new flat rate pension when many had been misled from the outset.

Which part of the green paper and white paper on the single tier pension do you think misled people? Please read both before responding.

saver861

gadgetmind wrote: »

Which part of the green paper and white paper on the single tier pension do you think misled people? Please read both before responding.

Thank you for the invitation to peruse both papers, though I should like to respectfully decline.

However, if you are saying this is the material the adult population should have absorbed to be aware of their new state pension entitlement then, I expect you probably might be disappointed!!

From where I'm sitting, I see there is a deal of confusion about the new pension. Not sure how it looks from you seat!

If you have simple explanation as to why there is so much confusion about the new flat rate pension and why so many thought 35 years would get them the full pension, then I'd love to hear it.

My explanation is simple - failed government spin.

neilvw

saver861 wrote: »

Thank you for the invitation to peruse both papers, though I should like to respectfully decline.

However, if you are saying this is the material the adult population should have absorbed to be aware of their new state pension entitlement then, I expect you probably might be disappointed!!

From where I'm sitting, I see there is a deal of confusion about the new pension. Not sure how it looks from you seat!

If you have simple explanation as to why there is so much confusion about the new flat rate pension and why so many thought 35 years would get them the full pension, then I'd love to hear it.

My explanation is simple - failed government spin.

It's hard to communicate contracting-out and transitional arrangements in a soundbite or a TV ad. If people want detail they have to read the detail.

JezR

Altmann's blogs on .gov.uk are some of the clearest explanations of the complexity of past, present, and future of state pensions and the transitions. However, like most things on .gov.uk only those interested would ever find it.

https://pensionslatest.blog.gov.uk/author/baroness-altmann-minister-for-pensions/

saver861

JezR wrote: »

Altmann's blogs on .gov.uk are some of the clearest explanations of the complexity of past, present, and future of state pensions and the transitions. However, like most things on .gov.uk only those interested would ever find it.

https://pensionslatest.blog.gov.uk/author/baroness-altmann-minister-for-pensions/

Yes I'd agree they are sufficiently explanatory.

However, they are a few years too late. That is the sort of thing that should have been produced and referred to from the initial announcements.

However, that would not have been in the interests of good spin.

gadgetmind

saver861 wrote: »

From where I'm sitting, I see there is a deal of confusion about the new pension. Not sure how it looks from you seat!

I read both papers as they were published, so zero confusion from over here, thanks.

My explanation is simple - failed government spin.

My explanation is also simple. Failure of people to go to the original sources of information and instead read the press, who are equally uninformed as they just crib from each other.

greenglide

I read both papers as they were published, so zero confusion from over here, thanks.

.... and so did I.

If people cannot be bothered to read about these things or to look up explanations of them from other sources then they shouldnt complain now. It they are relying of getting something in the future they really, really should keep on checking that the rules havent changed.

gadgetmind

greenglide wrote: »

If people cannot be bothered to read about these things or to look up explanations of them from other sources then they shouldnt complain now.

Quite so. We live in a world where people have vast amount of information at their fingertips, yet they choose to bathe in ignorance, and mither on like it's someone else's fault.

Even a cursory read through the green paper "A state pension for the 21st century" made it clear that no matter which option was chosen, it would be essential to make sure that no-one lost out, but equally well that things like opting out wouldn't allow people to eat their cake and have it.

I was on holiday on budget day, but still made sure that I found the white paper that day rather than relying on headlines, read it through a couple of times, and discussed the deeper implications with others online.

Even if someone just reads the executive summary and worked examples then they'd know 100x more than they'd get from The Daily Mail, yet they aren't prepared to do that.

What was HMG supposed to do? Read the white paper out as part of the budget speech instead of making it available online (free for all to easily access) and even if they'd done that, would anyone who's now complaining have actually listened?