State Pension paid 4/5 Weekly

GibbsRule_No3.

Thank you for quick reply.

Brie

I quite agree with this issue and I'm surprised that it's been allowed to continue for so long.  It seems to be the same problem with carer's allowance which the OH gets but not for attendance allowance that MiL receives.  Or maybe I just don't notice with her payments as I'm not that closely involved with her finances.  

I thought that other benefits were paid monthly now so what this has continued for some is a mystery.  

xylophone

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00260/SN00260.pdf

may be of interest.

p00hsticks

xylophone said:

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00260/SN00260.pdf

may be of interest.

That takes me back - I can well remember the queue of pensioners outside the Post Office waiting for it to open on a Thursday so they could collect their Pension - it must have been the day of choice for any armed robbers looking for large stashes of cash !

OldBeanz

Taken my pension weekly. Almost a year and it still puts a smile on my face every Wednesday morning when the bank pings me to tell of the credit.

luvchocolate

I also love it being paid weekly, every Monday £205 goes in and works pension paid monthly

mrschaucer

OldBeanz said:

Taken my pension weekly. Almost a year and it still puts a smile on my face every Wednesday morning when the bank pings me to tell of the credit.

luvchocolate said:

I also love it being paid weekly, every Monday £205 goes in and works pension paid monthly

I've always also taken the view that it's better in my pocket than theirs ...

squirrelpie

Marcon said:

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 ...

Problem solved.

Not quite. You still get either four or five payments in a month, so you still have the same basic position as when paid every four weeks and the same basic solution - namely take each four week's payments as your regular monthly income and treat the extra payments as a bonus.

And yes we have a second account just for paying bills (it's a joint account while our others are personal). It still needs maintenance because bills change over time.

Marcon

squirrelpie said:

Marcon said:

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 ...

Problem solved.

Not quite. You still get either four or five payments in a month, so you still have the same basic position as when paid every four weeks and the same basic solution - namely take each four week's payments as your regular monthly income and treat the extra payments as a bonus.

And yes we have a second account just for paying bills (it's a joint account while our others are personal). It still needs maintenance because bills change over time.

But if you are paid weekly, you have consistent cash flow. 

zagfles

The problem is that some people are incapable of budgetting on a monthly basis, as the govt have found with universal credit. For the vast majority it's fine, but some people will spend everything they get too quickly and will run out of money well before the end of the month and have to go to foodbanks etc. This makes bad headlines - even if it just affects a tiny minority, they're the ones journalists will seek out to get a good story.

So they really need to retain the weekly option to avoid the same sort of headlines as with UC. But offering the choice of weekly/monthly would be a bit of a nightmare especially if people want to change, eg some people may work out that getting paid monthly in Feb and weekly for the rest of the year gets them more! So complicated rules would be needed to avoid such fiddles and to calculate things when switching.