Inheriting State Pension

NH2004

Sadly my father died aged 75 at the beginning of January.
We used to the Tell Us Once Service when we registered his death to notify the relevant government departments.

Dad's state pension payment has now been stopped.

We are now trying to make sure my mum who is 82, gets the relevant pensions she is entitled to.
He had a couple of small works pensions, NHS and Civil Service.
We've had the claim form sent to us by the NHS pension and are still waiting to hear from the Civil service one.

But my question concerns mum's state pension entitlement.
She only receives around £77 per week as a state pension, whereas Dad was getting around £163 per week.

Can anyone confirm whether my mum's state pension should now increase to the level my Dad was earning?
And if it should, will this be automatic or does she need to make a claim to get it?

Thanks in advance

Brilley

..not sure, but when my dad passed away Mom did not get anything extra. Dad was on the "full basic" pension but Mom was on a very small pension as she had not worked that much, (she was getting about £80 a week). She had savings so was not entitled to any of the pension top ups until she had reduced her savings.

jamesd

She can Contact the Pension Service to find out more.

It would be typical for her to inherit much of the part of his state pension that is above the basic state pension level. So potentially as much as "around £163"- £129.20.

jem16

NH2004 wrote: »

Can anyone confirm whether my mum's state pension should now increase to the level my Dad was earning?
And if it should, will this be automatic or does she need to make a claim to get it?

Thanks in advance

Your Mum will definitely be able to improve her state pension based on your Dad’s contributions. It should give her the full Basic State pension. She will also inherit at least some of his additional pension - exactly how much depends on his date of birth but it could be up to 100%. You can check here.

https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting

I’m not sure if it’s automatic or not but I would suggest that you get in touch with the DWP and check just in case. They will be able to tell your Mum exactly what she will get.

jem16

Brilley wrote: »

..not sure, but when my dad passed away Mom did not get anything extra. Dad was on the "full basic" pension but Mom was on a very small pension as she had not worked that much, (she was getting about £80 a week). She had savings so was not entitled to any of the pension top ups until she had reduced her savings.

If this happened before 2016, your Mum should have been entitled to at least claim the full Basic State pension via your Dad’s contributions. Did you check with the DWP?

Linton

As Dad was getting more than the "basic" SP of £129/week he presumably had SERPS /S2P/ASP of £34/week. Mum would be entitled to perhaps 60% of that. See https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting.



Also it seems Mum could use Dad's NI years: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/inheritance


So talk to the Pension Service.

PasturesNew

My rule of thumb is as follows:

1/ Dad will have been receiving a couple's pension. Mum will not get that as she is single. A couple's claim is in one person's name, it happens to usually be the man's. Mum will get what any other single person would be entitled to (say, roughly, £80 for illustration purposes).

2/ If dad's pension pays out any money to mum, some do some don't, then she gets that in addition to the state pension.

Then - look at the pile of money on the table. That £80 or so state pension and dad's pile of pension she's now getting.... is it more than, say, about £170/week?

If it's under about £170/week she can claim a Minimum Income benefit to bring her up to a minimum amount. If the pile of money on the table is more than, say, £180/week she's probably not going to be able to claim any additional money.

The figures vary, but, rule of thumb, a single person, on pensions, living alone, would have to get the minimum income per week, which is about £170-180 or so.

Also: Make sure she's claiming for single person council tax. Also check if she can get council tax paid.... another rule of thumb is "if she's getting her basic pension topped up, she'll be able to get council tax too", but it's all about how much money she's got coming in and how much the council tax is and which area she lives in....

In short, two things to check:
1/ What's her new total income? Is it so low she can claim a top up?
2/ Check for council tax being all/part-paid.

jem16

PasturesNew wrote: »

My rule of thumb is as follows:

1/ Dad will have been receiving a couple's pension. Mum will not get that as she is single. A couple's claim is in one person's name, it happens to usually be the man's. Mum will get what any other single person would be entitled to (say, roughly, £80 for illustration purposes).

There is no such thing as a "couple's pension". Each person receives a state pension in their own right as both Mum and Dad were here. Mum's pension sounds like it was a Category B pension ( 60% of BSP) - very much the norm at that point where women paid the "small stamp". Married women claimed on their husband's NIC record.

The only thing that is even remotely like what you're suggesting is the Adult Dependency Increase which was abolished to new claimants in 2010 and only applied where one person was not yet of SPA.

sheramber

When my husband dies last year my son contacted the Pension Service about my pension.

He was told that although it would be picked up automatically, due to work load it would take a while. As he had phoned she would action it now.

I got an increase in my next payment

NH2004

Thank you everyone.

I will contact them and give them the details, and hopefully they will be able to sort it out for mum.

xylophone

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-6270261/Can-couples-inherit-state-pension-other.html

Thank you everyone.

I will contact them and give them the details, and hopefully they will be able to sort it out for mum.

Unless you have PoA for Mum, make sure that she is with you when you make the call as they might not discuss with a third party.