Are you one of 10,000s of women missing out on £1,000s of state pension? guide discussion

molerat

tiffy38 said:

My mother in law has just received her settlement of arrears,  my concern is that this may well affect her savings value and push her above the 23k limit and thus  result in a change in elibility to free care costs. Surely  this lump sum payment cannot be used in the calculations as it is a build up of a miscalculations going back many years. Help !

It may or may not affect her entitlement immediately or the effect may be deferred

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits

Dazed_and_C0nfused

molerat said:

tiffy38 said:

My mother in law has just received her settlement of arrears,  my concern is that this may well affect her savings value and push her above the 23k limit and thus  result in a change in elibility to free care costs. Surely  this lump sum payment cannot be used in the calculations as it is a build up of a miscalculations going back many years. Help !

It may or may not affect her entitlement immediately or the effect may be deferred

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits

And don't forget she may have to pay income tax on it as well.  Will depend on what other taxable income she had in the years involved.

SKbody

After reading the article about Category D over 80's pensions (thank you so much Martin et al), I phoned the Pensions Service to ask them to pay my 96 year old mum what she should have been receiving for the last 16 years, and it appears that they have just started to do so. I say, "appears", because she has not received a letter or any information about what the new pension payments are, nor any information about the arrears she is owed. Please, Martin, advise us on how to get this paid and just as importantly, how to get it paid without tax taken off. If she had received what she was owed at the correct time, she would not have had sufficient income to pay any tax on it. So she should not have to pay tax on it now, since it was the Department for Work and Pensions that made the error. If anyone needed to pay any tax, it should be them.  My mum is not able to deal with this herself, so I am trying on her behalf, and am so keen to get it for her before it's too late. She is 96, after all.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Firstly DWP do not ever deduct tax from State Pension payments.

Secondly tax on payments of arrears such as these fall to be taxed in the year the arrears relate to.  So if she receives say £16,000 for 16 years of arrears it will be taxable income of c£1,000/year that is taxable.  Not £16,000 to be taxed in the current year.

Or have you read something which suggests otherwise?

Irrespective of your personal feelings HMRC will just see this as extra taxable income, no reason it shouldn't be taxed just like any other taxable income.  Although the government had said they will only tax it for a limited number of years.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-06-26/65108

LisaV

Hello all. I enquired about this back in April but no response from the Pensions service yet. is there someone I can write to? It feels as if they really don't give a stuff and will probably wriggle out of payment if they possibly can....

molerat

LisaV said:

Hello all. I enquired about this back in April but no response from the Pensions service yet. is there someone I can write to? It feels as if they really don't give a stuff and will probably wriggle out of payment if they possibly can....

You can write to your MP if you want to try and get pushed to the front of the queue.  The problem is that it is not a push a button and the computer spits out all the necessary calculations for all those affected exercise, the computer spits out a list and someone sits down and goes through the details and works out any amounts due - it is a long slow manual process and they will get round to you eventually.

lounorman

My mum was a stay at home mum during the period mentioned for Home Responsibilities Protection. She personally topped up her stamps in order to receive a full state pension. Does anybody know if she should receive this money back, now that it has been realised it should have been paid for her?

sparky0138

lounorman said:

My mum was a stay at home mum during the period mentioned for Home Responsibilities Protection. She personally topped up her stamps in order to receive a full state pension. Does anybody know if she should receive this money back, now that it has been realised it should have been paid for her?

If you mean that she paid voluntary contributions AFTER the Home Responsibilities Protection period, then I'm not sure if she can get them refunded - but she should!

If you mean that she paid it when she should have been receiving the HRP credits instead then I've heard that not many people are successful but my mum was able to get back the 4 weeks of voluntary contribution she paid in 93-94. It was only £21.80 but it proves it's possible.

Here's the thread for more information if you're interested: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77547704/#Comment_77547704