Private pension and benefits

hogroast

So I'm a credit Club member of quite a long time and feel that to be of beneficial membership so now I ask a question concerning a monetary issue that has been haunting me for quite some time.
I worked all my life up until industrial accidents and health issues forced me out of work back in 2005 since which time I've been on the rocky road of being integrated into the benefits system for both metal and physical health. While working as a young man I payed for some time into a Rainbow pension plus scheme that has changed ownership a number of times since I have payed anything into it once moving to a pharmaceutical company everybody will have herd of that provided a good quality work based pension. Once I reached 50 years old I could have taken early retirement from this company pension but I didn't realise this until I reached, 53 where because of the irratic nature of the benefits system and hospital admit ions I owned quite a bit of debt. It was a bit of a life line to agree early retirement terms with the work based pension that allowed me to pay some but not all of my debts to help me live another day so to speak but unfortunately their was a price to pay. Eventually agreement was made by the benefits people after no end of investigation to be allowed the lump sum that payed most of my debt off but the monthly pension I receive has since been and continues to be equally deducted from the benefit amount in reciept of. The weight of the debt being lifted is enough to be able to accept no benefit from pension payment the debt was all but gone and when you add the reduced benefits to the small monthly pension now drawn there was no change to my income.

The problem now comes from still having the small private pension that keeps changing hands now sitting with roughly a value of £20,000 that if I even try to smell the color of any of its benefit will be a rug the benefits system will pull from under me quicker than jack flash by canceling my whole claims for any benefits that have been hard fought for I can tell you that being that the gain of £20,000 is higher than the absolute maximum that your allowed to have while still qualifieing for benefits.
Now I am resigned to the fact that this policy will just have to be added to my estate once I die so at least my children can have a few quid maybe to get them through their driving tests or something when they are of an age to do it but now in the living debts are as is the nature of money and living on benefits alone starting to grow that leaves me in no doubt or at the least hope that as I live on debts will grow and that my money sitting getting passed from company to company will start to play on my mind as to how I can make it work for me while I am still alive because as it stands to my benefit all it is is a piece of paper with my name on it gotten from when I was able to work and made in preparation for if the day ever came I was in the very predicament I am actually in now.
My question is has anybody got any ideas of gaining from the situation I am in so far as that private pension is concerned.
I'm not normally a poster so forgive me if it's wrongly presented but I feel you will get what I'm meaning from it, thanks in advance.

GunJack

It's a pension , not just a wad of money that you take all at once. If you plan withdrawal properly it could(should) have a minimum effect on benefits.

First things first, contact the current provider and see exactly what you have with them, then you can do some proper planning as to how to use it.

AnotherJoe

Better to Post in the benefits forum.
As far as I know,mthe £20k in your pension is not regarded by benefits rules in the same way as £20k in your bank would be so it wouldn't result in an withdrawal of benefits,
What would affect benefits is when you start to withdraw the money. At that point it will be how much you withdraw. There will be a rate at which you withdraw when you will get minimal benefits reduction
So, post on the benefits forum for info about best way to do that. .

dunstonh

The problem now comes from still having the small private pension that keeps changing hands now sitting with roughly a value of £20,000 that if I even try to smell the color of any of its benefit will be a rug the benefits system will pull from under me quicker than jack flash by canceling my whole claims for any benefits that have been hard fought for I can tell you that being that the gain of £20,000 is higher than the absolute maximum that your allowed to have while still qualifieing for benefits.

If you take the pension as a lifetime income then the benefits are not reduced on a £1 for £1 basis.

If you take it as a lump sum then its effectively adding three quarters of it to your income in that year. That will hurt your benefits.

Pensions are not treated the same as savings in respect of lump sum value.

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-freedoms-and-dwp-benefits/pension-freedoms-and-dwp-benefits
seems relevant.