Understanding my Contracted Out 'COPE' figure

flakey321

Hi

I've got a question around the state pension and "Contracted Out Pension Equivalent" (COPE). I can see from logging in to my Govt Gateway account that if I keep making contributions for another 6 years (i've got about 20 years to go to state pension age) I'll receive around £175 state pension per week.

As I was 'Contracted out' of Serps the COPE figure on Govt gateway equates to around £39 per week so does that mean i'll receive £175 minus £39 per week, or do I still receive 175 and the 39 is just for information? If that COPE amount is deducted can I pay extra National Insurance to top this back up? I've seen mention of that but not sure if that's just for people who haven't contributed enough years to receive the full pension amount.

any help welcomed.

jamesd

The £39 is a very rough estimate of how much non-state pension income is a result of being in a workplace pension that contracted members out of the earnings-related part of the state pension.

It's in addition to the state pension. It's just for information, pay attention to the number of years needed instead.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

The COPE amount isn't deducted (sigh).

What did you read on your gov.uk State Pension forecast that made you even think that was a possibility?

Linton

When the pension scheme rules were changed in 2016 your entitlement under the new and old rules were calculated and the higher one taken as the value of SP earned up to that date,  COPE is a number used in the calculation and represents the SERPS/S2P/ASP to which you are not entitled as you were contracted out.

The forecast is based on the 2016 calculation so the value of COPE is now irrelevent, you can ignore it.  Or put another way you will receive the full £175-ish SP if you make at least 6 more years contributions.

Marcon

Try https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/state-pension/your-state-pension-forecast-explained-a24r12y9jt41

flakey321

Linton said:

When the pension scheme rules were changed in 2016 your entitlement under the new and old rules were calculated and the higher one taken as the value of SP earned up to that date,  COPE is a number used in the calculation and represents the SERPS/S2P/ASP to which you are not entitled as you were contracted out.

The forecast is based on the 2016 calculation so the value of COPE is now irrelevent, you can ignore it.  Or put another way you will receive the full £175-ish SP if you make at least 6 more years contributions.

Perfect, thanks for that. It's the answer I wanted to hear :-)