State Pension paid 4/5 Weekly

NedS

zagfles said:

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.

Probably the biggest issue is the legacy software payment systems DWP still use, which are very many years old and DWP did not write them so it is not possible for DWP to update them. So even if they wanted to make changes to the way payments are made, they may not be able to.

That was one of the huge benefits of Universal Credit - it uses a system developed completely in house by DWP software developers and can be rapidly adapted and deployed to fit changing circumstances (like the introduction and subsequent removal of the temporary £20 uplift during the Covid pandemic)

luvchocolate

Not sure if there's a connection but the rent on my housing association property is paid weekly,  2 weekly or 4 weekly exactly like state pension. 

crafty_Blue

Thanks for all the replies. Seems it's not going to change for the foreseeable future. Our domestic finances are all geared around monthly incomings/outgoings, and the 4/5 weekly thing throws it all a bit out of kilter. I'll probably do plan A - have the pension[s] paid into another acct. and draw down the monthly equivalent on a DD. 

Thrugelmir

crafty_Blue said:

Thanks for all the replies. Seems it's not going to change for the foreseeable future. Our domestic finances are all geared around monthly incomings/outgoings, and the 4/5 weekly thing throws it all a bit out of kilter. I'll probably do plan A - have the pension[s] paid into another acct. and draw down the monthly equivalent on a DD. 

Have an instant access savings account to smooth out the bumps.  Even being paid monthly is impacted by weekends, bank holidays and the number of days in a month. 

NedS

Thrugelmir said:

crafty_Blue said:

Thanks for all the replies. Seems it's not going to change for the foreseeable future. Our domestic finances are all geared around monthly incomings/outgoings, and the 4/5 weekly thing throws it all a bit out of kilter. I'll probably do plan A - have the pension[s] paid into another acct. and draw down the monthly equivalent on a DD. 

Have an instant access savings account to smooth out the bumps.  Even being paid monthly is impacted by weekends, bank holidays and the number of days in a month. 

That's it in a nutshell. Those living 'hand to mouth' are going to find it a stress on their budgeting whereas those with a small buffer will not even notice it as an issue.