Can I claim Job seekers allowance following VR at 55 if I defer taking my pension?

mark55man

The below quote from a random CS pension example (prison officer I think from the context). Your scheme details may vary

Pension options Can I take my pension instead of a cash payment? If you are: • a member of the Civil Service pension scheme, and • have at least two years’ qualifying service, and • are over your minimum scheme pension age, (50 if you were in the scheme since before 6 April 2006, 55 if you joined after) you can take your pension early. Normally, if you take your pension before your scheme pension age, we will reduce it because you will be receiving it over a longer period. However, you can use your compensation payment towards the cost of buying out this reduction. If you choose to do this, your compensation payment may not be enough to meet the full cost of buying out the reduction to your pension for the current period of service. If this is the case your employer will top up the payment to buy out any remaining reduction. (The employer top up will apply to pension for current service only; in other words, on the service on which your compensation payment is based.)

So this one says that you can use your VR money to top up the reduction. I think from your numbers that's paying £60K to get an extra £10Kpa income. which is a good deal I think, but you would have to work through the numbers if you felt it better to keep the VR and not take the pension. Plus depends on the costing mechanism - please don;t rely on my maths but looks interesting

GazHol

Another benefit of JSA is that you get NI credits, so as others have said, check you NI record and state pension forecast.
when you sign up for JSA, you do have the option of NI contributions only, ie you don’t get paid the JSA itself. AFAIK, this option isn’t available in the online application, you would need to sort it out at the first interview.

Browntoa

Moved from the pensions board as more benefits related

Spoonie_Turtle

Wow, that was ... Quite A Read.

OP assuming your NI record is complete with contributions for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 tax year, you are eligible to claim JSA.  If you take a pension, over a certain amount you will have money deducted from your JSA.  Other posters here on the benefits board will know the details of that.

Re: your frozen shoulder, it depends how much it's affecting your ability to work.  If you're fit for working non-physical jobs one would hope they would take that into consideration - for UC they have to so I can't imagine JSA would be any different.  If your shoulder is giving you big problems you could look into ESA, but be aware of what the criteria are for limited capability for work - if you have an assessment and are found to be fit for work you'd then have to claim JSA anyway.

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:.. If you take a pension, over a certain amount you will have money deducted from your JSA. ..

Pension income in excess of £50/week is deducted in full from the JSA payable.

ohdrar

So sad to hear people debating about whether or not its morally right to claim anything - if anyone from Pensions is going to add to the thread -

Be aware of Martins Rules - this board is about entitlement not what you think is morally right.

E.g someone with £100million in the bank can claim PIP and this board will help them do so etc... (a v extreme example I know but relevant)

bluenose1

ohdrar said:

So sad to hear people debating about whether or not its morally right to claim anything - if anyone from Pensions is going to add to the thread -

Be aware of Martins Rules - this board is about entitlement not what you think is morally right.

E.g someone with £100million in the bank can claim PIP and this board will help them do so etc... (a v extreme example I know but relevant)

Well said and quite  agree Ohdrar, and I say that as someone who contributes to the Pension board.

3card

I was made redundant at the end of June 2020 at the age of 60 and i decided to apply for JSA.
The process was easy and in the 6 months i never had to visit and job centre and at my initial phone appointment the lady could tell i was a genuine case and i was honest to tell her i was only looking for a part time job as i had had my fill of full time employment.
I had a pension pot of over £300K and i could have started this in drawdown but i would have preferred to find a suitable part time position in something i could enjoy 
The usual timescale for follow up phone calls from the job centre was 2 weeks but she decided to put me on a monthly call which was acceptable to both of us
I told her at each call what i was doing to look for work and this was accepted

After 6 months my JSA finished and i decided to call my employment days to an end and i started drawing a small pension in the new tax year

I would say to the OP that yes they should apply for JSA but bear in mind that this income is class as taxable at the end of the tax year

Good luck 

calcotti

3card said: The process was easy and in the 6 months i never had to visit and job centre 

Obviously that reflects Covid pandemic restrictions and JobCentre offices were closed. Your experience is not typical of normal times.

itsmeagain

maisie_cat said:

I was in a similar position, having paid tax & NI for decades, but I opted not to claim jobseekers, I didn't want the faff of having to send hundreds of CVs out and if I claimed I would be technically "unemployed" rather than "retired/housewife" which has an effect on things like car insurance etc.
I had the savings so used the time to make our lives a bit more frugal, after decades of senior management stressful full on hours work it was refreshing actually. I didn't need the stress of dealing with the DWP and it would have ruined my run of being the only person in my extended family to have never claimed benefits.

I didn't think about insurance. I just ran quotes for my car & home to see how I would be affected. My home was unchanged and my car wet down £20 for being unemployed (including the change of use of the car).