State Pension letter?

Ganga

Basicaly the state pension is paid every week,ie 52 payments,you can have it paid weekly - 52 payments,fortnightly -26 payments or every 4 weeks -13 payments.there is no monthly payment.

badmemory

It does seem a little curious that once you reach your late 60s/70s that your financial affairs actually get more difficult due to the timing of the state pension.  I used to do - pay goes in DDs go out I have this much left.  Now it is state pension goes in - what date is that - is it before all the DDs go out - do I need to transfer some in - OK not until my DD to another account to keep the bonus going & will the DD back be in time?

Just wait until you need to file self assessment.  Usually the first state pension payment (& remember this is from when it is accrued not actually paid) of any tax year is usually at the old payment.  Not that the DWP or HMRC will actually get this right.  Oh the joys!  And they say tax doesn't have to be taxing!  Also don't expect them to get the interest on your savings accounts right.

alfmurph

Apparently it would take millions of pounds to change it to monthly . Would need to go to court and have the law changed .
And both the government and the civil servants have better things to do with their time according to a spokesman .
I would like it to be paid monthly as well .

GibbsRule_No3.

The fact that on the online information page they tell you the monthly amount you will receive as well as the weekly and yearly amount but the letter mentions it as four weeks, obviously means they know what the monthly amount is. So why would it be so difficult and why so expensive to change it? Surely most people are either paid monthly or private pensions are paid monthly, so software is out there. It is nice to know I am not the only one wanting monthly. It may be because they want our elderly brains to keep mathematically active.

DairyQueen

It seems odd in this day-and-age that the most common frequency of income and expense payment (monthly) isn't available on the SP. As it's paid in arrears I guess the best workaround is to opt for weekly payments and calculate cash flow from there. Or perhaps ensure there is always a cash buffer in the account sufficient to cover monthly bills.

Most other sources of retirement income are paid monthly by default. Therefore those who suffer most from the SP timing restriction are also those most dependent on the SP. Is this a legacy of a bygone age when the majority were weekly paid?

molerat

It really goes back to "the old days" when the poor pensioner would go to the post office for his weekly spending money. Getting the computer to pay the weekly calculated amount in weeks or multiples thereof is simple, reprogramming it to pay monthly - as well as weekly / 2 weekly / 4 weekly for those that still want it - would be quite a major operation. Not really that fussed how often it is paid - goes into my savings pot anyway and then less than half goes back into my budget pot monthly.  I would like to have tax deducted at source, would save a lot of aggro - but I appreciate it ain't gonna happen !

Triumph13

The simple solution is to open a separate bank account for you pension to be paid into and have a monthly direct debit out of it into your normal account for 4 1/3 weeks of pension.  It only requires a tiny float.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Triumph13 said:

The simple solution is to open a separate bank account for you pension to be paid into and have a monthly direct debit out of it into your normal account for 4 1/3 weeks of pension.  It only requires a tiny float.

Great idea 

GibbsRule_No3.

Triumph13 said:

The simple solution is to open a separate bank account for you pension to be paid into and have a monthly direct debit out of it into your normal account for 4 1/3 weeks of pension.  It only requires a tiny float.

It is what I am thinking of doing, fly in the ointment, a few years ago I had a DMP so my current account is a basic one. When I thought I needed a “tap and use” card for busses I applied to Santander, two pensions and a monthly wage would be going in plus a fair amount to a savings account and they did not want to know, Same with the bank that I have the basic account with, they would not upgrade to a normal account, because even though the DMP was over they probably wanted/needed so many years after. Those rejections makes me wary of trying to open a new account anywhere else.
re the tax assessment that was mentioned, I am not giving up work for another year, so what will I need to do?  At present the two private pensions and the monthly pay is sorted automatically for tax. HMRC just send me the form saying what tax is being taken from the three, will it not just go up to reflect the remainder of the personal allowance? In 49 years I have worked for the same company and if mine is so confusing I’d hate to think what it is like for people who had multiple jobs.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

re the tax assessment that was mentioned, I am not giving up work for another year, so what will I need to do?  At present the two private pensions and the monthly pay is sorted automatically for tax. HMRC just send me the form saying what tax is being taken from the three, will it not just go up to reflect the remainder of the personal allowance? In 49 years I have worked for the same company and if mine is so confusing I’d hate to think what it is like for people who had multiple jobs.

If you don't already need to file a Self Assessment return then getting State Pension is unlikely to change that (unless on very high income or it makes you liable for the High Income Child Benefit Charge).

You shouldn't need to do anything.  HMRC will adjust your main tax code to include your State Pension and you pay extra tax on that source of income.

As your State Pension starts so close to the end of the tax year it may be that that doesn't happen for the current tax year and HMRC will send you a letter advising how much tax you owe for 2019:20 in the summer.  You can generally just pay it off by an adjustment to your next tax code (2021:22 in this scenario).

Think of it as an interest free loan.  Worst case scenario is you'd have to pay it direct to HMRC by 31 January 2021 (at the very earliest).