State Pension paid 4/5 Weekly

crafty_Blue

To some it probably seems churlish to complain about the frequency of the State Pension payments, but in a world where even the least internet & tech savvy of us have pretty much the majority of their outgoings on a monthly basis, I genuinely find I have to keep adjusting spending to coincide with the 4 or 5 weekly payments - complicated by my wife's also, at different intervals.
Would it really be that difficult for the Govt. to offer the option of monthly payments, as do virtually every other western country. I've considered using a separate acct. to have them paid into, and then transferring an average amount across to our main account, but so far have delayed because I'm concerned the change of acct. will confuse DWP !
Or am I alone ?? !

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You're probably not alone but one option would be to treat each payment as the monthly amount and once a year think of the extra payment as a bonus

GibbsRule_No3.

I agree.  I did post about the “problem” when I started receiving my SP a couple of years ago.  It is going to concern me even more after May when my monthly pay stops and I do finally retire. I know it is my own fault for not being as organised as I should be.  I will just hope I can keep £1000 in my current account to make sure DDs are paid when needed. But I would love to have just twelve regular payments a year.

Marcon

crafty_Blue said:

To some it probably seems churlish to complain about the frequency of the State Pension payments, but in a world where even the least internet & tech savvy of us have pretty much the majority of their outgoings on a monthly basis, I genuinely find I have to keep adjusting spending to coincide with the 4 or 5 weekly payments - complicated by my wife's also, at different intervals.
Would it really be that difficult for the Govt. to offer the option of monthly payments, as do virtually every other western country. I've considered using a separate acct. to have them paid into, and then transferring an average amount across to our main account, but so far have delayed because I'm concerned the change of acct. will confuse DWP !
Or am I alone ?? !

You can change to weekly payments by calling the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469.  Alternatively, write to The Pension Service, Post Handling Site A, Wolverhampton WV98 1AF, giving your name, address and National Insurance number, and ask for your pension payment to be changed to a weekly basis.

Problem solved.

Silvertabby

Not alone, but seems the answer is that as the State pension is calculated on a weekly basis, it would be too expensive to change the software to be able offer calendar monthly payments.

In our case, our main pensions (Armed Forces)  go in on the 27th of the month ( sometimes as early as the 24th in the event of a bank holiday) so having a 'floating' payment date for the State pension isn't a drama - but I can see how it could be for others with set DD dates.

GibbsRule_No3.

I don’t think I’d want it paid weekly, been over 48 years since I’ve been paid weekly.
13, 10, 5, 2, 30, 28, 25, 22, 20,17, and 8 are my payment dates for this year, all over the shop.  I do have two pensions besides the State Pension, they go in on the same date each month, granted different times to each other, so probably still need to keep the current account topped up for the DDs that go out at different times.  I’m sure it will sort itself out, though I’m assuming with most of the younger generation being used to a monthly pay packet more will ask this question. I am looking forward to April this year and the two payments.

Silvertabby

When I started work as a LGPS administrator, many of the Council manual workers were still paid weekly.  But the LGPS pension could only be paid calendar monthly into a bank account.

Caused no end of difficult phone calls from new pensioners who demanded that their pensions also be paid weekly. 

dunstonh

To some it probably seems churlish to complain about the frequency of the State Pension payments, but in a world where even the least internet & tech savvy of us have pretty much the majority of their outgoings on a monthly basis, I genuinely find I have to keep adjusting spending to coincide with the 4 or 5 weekly payments - complicated by my wife's also, at different intervals.

It's not that difficult. 11 months of the year, you get a payment, and you get two in one month. I recall a period many years ago where I had a four weekly payroll, and whilst it was initially strange, it didn't take long to adapt, and I quite liked it in the end because one month felt like you got paid more.
Also, remember that many people get paid weekly or four weekly. So, whilst it is alien to you, it is normal for others. 

Would it really be that difficult for the Govt. to offer the option of monthly payments, as do virtually every other western country. I've considered using a separate acct. to have them paid into, and then transferring an average amount across to our main account, but so far have delayed because I'm concerned the change of acct. will confuse DWP !

If you find budgeting difficult, then you have two options to consider.
1 - money management software (a good free option is money manager EX)
2 - use a budget account.

I do both. All income goes into the main account. The budget account contains all the monthly bills, and one day a month, a standing order is transferred to the budget account from the main account.

edit: grammar correction.

GibbsRule_No3.

Dunstooth can you tell me more about the budget account?  Is it something your bank offers as an extra or something you have set up?  Could I open an account with a different bank from the one I am in and transfer money into it each month to pay just DDs?
I am liking this idea if you don’t mind sharing?  

Weird that I don’t feel organised enough to trust my current account but am getting excited at the thought of a budget account to run.

p00hsticks

crafty_Blue said:

Would it really be that difficult for the Govt. to offer the option of monthly payments, as do virtually every other western country.

The answer is yes it would - I'm pretty sure it would require a complete rewrite of the aging State Pension payment system so a very costly exercise, with not a great deal of benefit - as others have suggested there is a way around it by using a separate bank account to receive it and then transferring money over monthly if it really bothers you that much.

'If it ain't broke don't mess with it' is probably the best attitude to take when it comes to these old IT systems. If and when it does get rewritten I suspect that a monthly payment option would b high on the list of must haves (as introduced with UC), but they wouldn't date remove the current weekly / ffortnightly / four weekly option from existing pensioners so it's introducing added complexity. 

dunstonh

Dunstooth can you tell me more about the budget account?  Is it something your bank offers as an extra or something you have set up?

Years ago, the banks used to have a product called a budget account.  It was just a second current account. Sometimes they were tagged number 2 account or budget account.    They offered full current account functionality.   Then they stopped marketing them and just said you can have as many current accounts as you want.

The original purpose was back when you had quarterly bills and annual bills as well as monthly.   You would take the annual amount of all of them, add a bit of a margin and divide it by 12 and that was your monthly payment.   

Could I open an account with a different bank from the one I am in and transfer money into it each month to pay just DDs?

Yes, you can.  I use the same bank but there is no reason it needs to be the same.

I am liking this idea if you don’t mind sharing?  

I have operated that way since the late 80s.  Back then I just had a monthly income but the view was that ever was left in the main account after the standing order had gone to the number 2 account was mine to spend.   That way I knew all the bills were covered and some put aside for the car insurance, MOT etc.   Over the years as the number of bills increased and sources of income changed, I kept it up.