application for state pension questions

chavlesssociety

hello, just helping my mum apply online for my dads state pension which he will be eligible for in december. They are a bit anxious and i cant find the answers to their questions online so hope someone here can help
1 - my dad currently gets pension credits. Mum isnt on his claim. Given that the rates we have seen for the new state pension are only a few pounds difference to pension credits is it worth him applying? He has always worked apart from last three years due to illness so full NI contributions.
Reason I ask is because it looks like the state pension is paid monthly. They are worried that on his eligible date, the pension credits he gets will stop and they wont have any money for a month . The example on the gov.uk page is ;

Example
You reach State Pension age on Monday 1 November and your payment day is a Friday.
You’ll get paid:

• on Friday 5 November (for 1 to 5 November)
• every 4 weeks on a Friday, after that

So it looks like after his first payment to cover the first week he wont get any money for another four weeks.. This has caused a few panics tonight.


Also, on the claim form it has asked 'does anyone get money added to their benefits because of you'. My mum gets carers allowance for him so she has selected yes but there were no more questions as to what info they were looking for. Has she answered that correctly?


Thank you

p00hsticks

I think that if you ask you can get the state pension paid weekly rather than monthly, but you need to claim by phone rather than online to request this option.

As he's claiming pension credits I believe he'll be expected to claim his state pension as soon as he is eligible - I'm not sure but his pension credits may automatically reduce when he reaches state pension age. Again, the Pension Service should be able to advice if you speak to them

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

anmarj

If your mum is not on the PC claim then that is worrying, as they should be claiming as a couple.

anmarj

He has to apply for his State Pension, he does not have an option on that as he us getting PC

sheramber

Once he reaches state pension age pension credit will automatically count it as income whether he claims it or not.

badmemory

Do they both have a state pension forecast? It is not necessarily the new state pension approx £159 it could well be more.

chavlesssociety

Thanks = mum isnt on his pension credits claim. She used to be but when she started getting carers allowance she was taken off the pension credits claim. She isnt of pension or pension credits age
We have been trying to get a forecast online but thanks to the exceptionally OTT security systems it is so confusing that we have given up. It is baffling even for me to get through, let alone a couple who arent too familar with the internet. We registered my dad for governent gateway. Got the ID number in the post for that, thought he could then apply for his pension online but no - he had to wait for an application activation code.
Tonight we have been trying to get a pension forecast - you would think that as he has goverment gateway ID that would be enough. But we logged in and were asked to input an access code which was texted to hs phone. Then he was asked to verify via either governmenr verify or one of their partners - after several questions he was only eligible to verify via experian. After twenty minutes, during which they needed his bank account details (VERY difficult to explain to my parents given the recent banking fraud adverts). Eventually they couldnt verify him as he doesnt have a passport or a credit card!
Then tried government verification again - signed in with gateway ID , name , NI number , DOB and yet again got to a verification page to be checked with a credit agency, where he was asked how many years since he took out a personal loan.. thought it may be 'more than five' so ticked that. Showed a list of three addresses and asked which one he had lived at . previously.. then a message came up saying 'you have reached the maximum number of attempts'

It is a tremendously difficult site to access. I work during the day so cant be around to phone for them

McKneff

Why not just write to the Dwp rwquesting pension fore casts. 1 for mum and one for dad. Include all relevant information

Silvertabby

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/526319/br19-print.pdf

Application form for State pension forecast

WillowCat

As said above, mum should be on the claim - all means tested benefits rely on the household income.

I've just done a quick run through entitledto.co.uk, I assumed that the person your mum gets carers allowance for is your dad (though this wouldn't actually change the award given.)

It says your dad should be getting £212.50 per week pension credit, on top of your mum's £62.70 carers allowance and his PIP/DLA award.

They may also get a discount on council tax and if they rent some housing benefit.

Given the above, unless his pension is exceptionally high he will still get some amount of pension credit even once he is in receipt of his state pension.

chavlesssociety

Thank you very much for taking the time to do that. I will look into it I dont think he got that much then when mum claimed carers allowance the pension credits were reduced because of it. I will go though it tmrw night with them