State Pension and COPE

DaveAG

I am seeking clarification on my State Pension, and hope someone on this forum can help.
I have read and re-read the information on the gov website, and find it ambiguous and confusing. I have written to the DWP as recommended by the gov website for help. In the meantime:

Key facts as recorded on the HMRC website:
· I qualify for my State Pension on my 66th birthday in June 2023
· I have no gaps in my NI record, having 45 years of full contributions
· My forecast (the most I can get) is £164.35 a week
· In the past I was contracted out of the additional State Pension
· My Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) estimate is £105.21 a week

Questions:
· Will I receive £164.35 or £59.14 a week? (the latter being the forecast minus COPE)
· If £164.35, where is the £105.21 COPE? Included in past company pension schemes?

Thank you in anticipation,
David

lisyloo

Where did your contracted out payments go to?

molerat

COPE is not real, the clue is in the E for equivalent. It is an equivalent amount that you could be expected to receive from the contracted out pension, the actual amount received could be more or less. You will receive the amount stated on the forecast, COPE was only used in calculating the 2016 pension foundation amount and is already fully accounted for in forecast pension figure.

xylophone

See link in post 2 here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75388192#Comment_75388192



https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-fact-sheets/contracting-out-and-why-we-may-have-included-a-contracted-out-pension-equivalent-cope-amount-when-you-used-the-online-service

And final post on this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5955781/estimated-additional-state-pension

dunstonh

You are a gainer under the new state pension. You are getting £164.35pw despite having years of contracting out.

where is the £105.21 COPE? Included in past company pension schemes?

If you contracted out with a personal pension it will be there. If you contracted out in an occupational pension it will be there. However, neither will be £105.21. Molerat explains it well above.

Dazed_and_confused

Will I receive £164.35 or £59.14 a week? (the latter being the forecast minus COPE)

I am curious to know what led you to believe that this was a possibility?

Silvertabby

“ Will I receive £164.35 or £59.14 a week? (the latter being the forecast minus COPE)

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

I am curious to know what led you to believe that this was a possibility?

Possibly because this is what OP would have received without the transitional protections - ie, new single tier pension minus COPE.

However, like most of us who have been contracted out for all/most of our working lives, OP's State pension (as at April 2016) will have been calculated under both the old and new rules - and his/her foundation amount will have been set as the higher of the two. ie, at least £123 per week (the old basic pension - plus graduated pension/SERPS/SP2 if applicable).