Beware State Pension shock when partner dies

Rolandtheroadie

The wife's LGPS estimate is 8k at 60, with 23 years service, or a bit under half her salary. Her AVCs will bump that up a bit.
My own 2/3 scheme would pay 1/3 of my average annual wage (including overtime) at 58 years old and 40 years service. I'm around 11% contributions, company 12%. There's AVCs included in that 1/3 as well.
Not everyone in the public sector has gold plated pensions (stand corrected, they do).

crv1963

Muscle750 wrote: »

£6k a year ..........two words .................BS.

It may not seem fair but everyone has to work within the rules of whatever their pension scheme has. If people want a better deal than they have got then they have choices- pay more in, start with an employer who has a better pension, start an additional pension, use a different form of savings/ investment.


I think part of the problem is expectations are raised, insufficient funds are saved to meet these then jealousy is raised when the truth hits home.


For instance take auto-enrolment I bet lots of people think that saving 3 or 4% of their earnings is going to give them a comfortable retirement, when the reality is very different for most need to save a lot more.


I remember at 18 not joining my employer scheme as the £2.50 a week cost was better used to buy records/ pints / and go towards a taxi home from the nightclub! Luckily at 21 a new employer clearly explained the benefit of joining the scheme offered and I will get a DB pension soon! Even so I will need to work on for a few years in some capacity. or chose to live a more frugal lifestyle.


I think there needs to be a less emotive discussion/ debate and it needs to be explicit that NI contributions now only count towards your own SP. If you want your partner/ spouse to get anything then you need to make provision for this. That the % of earnings saved needs to be much higher or expectations need to be lowered.


Unfortunately few take the time to understand saving, let alone pension saving.

Silvertabby

I'd just like to clarify something if I may...

The term 'gold plated' when applied to public sector pensions does NOT mean that the pension is a very high amount, it just means that the value of the pension is guaranteed.

GunJack

Silvertabby wrote: »

I'd just like to clarify something if I may...

The term 'gold plated' when applied to public sector pensions does NOT mean that the pension is a very high amount, it just means that the value of the pension is guaranteed.

I know, but as I pointed out earlier (possibly on a different thread) that if the private schemes weren't either chronically mis-managed and/or subject to criminal activity, then those would also be "gold plated" as per your statement....

...I even remember saying people should stop blaming the public sector schemes for the state of some private/corporate schemes

LHW99

Maybe its all tied up with this idea of equality - married partners began to be regarded as independent people back in the days when they stopped expecting the husband to fill in his wife' tax details and regarding the wife as merely an appendage of her husband.
Everyone now has to consider their own position, and not rely on another person (the State, even their nearest and dearest) to provide for them for the rest of their lives.
(There, got by without mentioning the WA*** word)

westport

Some very interesting posts. My mother worked for nearly 30 years cleaning offices for Islington council. When she retired, she was told her pension would be 18 pence a week. We thought it was an admin error but it wasn't. Back in the early 70's she took some time off work when having kids, and when she returned they did not put her back on the full stamp and never at any stage advised her of this. She went to the unions and they done nothing. She was paying more in subs to the unions than into her stamps conts, and when she needed help they done nothing. A disgrace. This has happened to tens of thousands of women. That's what you get for getting up at 04.30am and back again in the evening cleaning offices, and NEVER claiming a penny in unemployment benefits of her 45 years of working, and to rub salt in the wound, when my father fell ill, my mother had a massive stroke and was rushed to a specialist unit where her wedding ring and all the other jewellery she ever owned was stolen. No apology, nothing. My mother ended up in a stroke recovery unit for 2 months. Whilst there, my father passed away and 3 days before his funeral my mother was kicked out of the so-called recovery unit, couldn't walk or talk and they wouldn't even give us a wheelchair to borrow to take her to my father’s funeral. They told us we had to go to a charity shop 20 miles away to ask them. That's what you get for a combined 90 years of contributions. There were people in the hospital that couldn't speak a word of English that were getting the same treatment, the odd one maybe a tourist, that probably haven't paid a penny into the system. It makes my blood boil. At least now the new pension system if you don't pay into it, you get nothing out of it. The same should be done with the NHS. If you are not from whichever country you are living in, no matter which country you are living in, you should have to have private medical insurance for the first 10 years before getting access to free medical care. It's on its knees. The Government, Tories or Labour, needs to get its priorities right and look after their own pensioners first. For decades, both Labour and the Conservatives have ignored the issue of getting people to pay more into their own pensions just so to stay in power as it would be an unpopular decision. Now look at the mess it's in. I believe the average pension pot is between 70 - 100K. Try living in the south of England on that for the rest of your life and see how long it lasts.

TheShape

Perhaps the thread title could be changed to 'Foreign health-tourists stole my pension'.

That last post ticks the boxes for everything you'd want in a Daily Mail article.

p00hsticks

westport wrote: »

I phoned the State Pension line to find out what happens if your partner dies under the new State Pension scheme, if you have both qualified for the full amount. I could not believe what I was hearing when I was told that you will get nothing from your partners pension, unless you have made any additional contributions before April 2016, which I am sure the majority of us will not have done, as it would have just been taken directly from your employer. So when a partner passes away you will still have the same household bills, but will only get half the income. This needs to be publicised or a lot of people are in for a big shock.

Yet another pension thread that Muscles50's hijacked with his ranting....

FAO the OP if they are still around;

You keep referring to 'partner' rather than 'husband/wife' - are you actually married / in a civil partnership ? If not, not only has there never been any provision for 'common law' partners to inherit each others additional state pension, you may well find that you won't be eligible for any spouses pensions from private pensions either.

It's worth looking into - my long-term partner and I recently got married soley for the purposes of ensuring that the other would get the best pension provision when the other died (romantic, huh ?)

westport

In reply to TheShapes stupid comments. Lets hope one day your mother gets treated the way my mother was by the NHS and pension system and ends up with 18p a week pension for 45 years of contributions, then you might change your tune. You sound like your another one of these, "I want everything in life for free" brigade. If you haven't paid into the system, you shouldn't get anything out of it, simple as. Other than those that have serious health problems or disabilities. I once had a meeting with a chair of a hospital trust, and I suggested to him that drunks and coke heads that end up at A&E every Friday and Saturday night should be charged for the police and hospital time through their tax code as a percentage of their earnings or a reduction in their benefits, and this money go towards the care system for pensioners. He said it's a great idea, but the Government wouldn't do it. Glad to see the Government have got their priorities right. Drunks, cokeheads and scroungers. And by the way I don't read the Daily Mail.

atush

borkid wrote: »

I never expected to get any of my OH state pension if he dies before me. Why should I?

I did initially when i moved here. I had no record of working int he UK, and was raising 3 children under 5 so couldnt earn enough to work (even with a degree). I would have earned a full SP under my husbands contribs.

But I did know when the new SP was being drawn up, that would no longer be the case. So am now making voluntary contributions. No shock involved, as I keep up to date with such important matters.

What the OP should concentrate on, is making employer or Private pension contributions. Which if DB you would inherit around 50% of a spouses pension (depending on the scheme), or if DC you would inherit the whole lot, tax free.