State Pension, first payment date

SusieT

northernsparky said:

Well I’m about to make my application- it will also request payments to be made weekly. 

Hopefully that should avoid a long wait- even if they don’t make the first weeks part payment.

Longer term she should be ok with 4 weekly, but right now it would have been better if she had requested weekly. I will perhaps suggest that she calls them and asks for weekly, I think that would help a lot

Silvertabby

SusieT said:

northernsparky said:

Well I’m about to make my application- it will also request payments to be made weekly. 

Hopefully that should avoid a long wait- even if they don’t make the first weeks part payment.

Longer term she should be ok with 4 weekly, but right now it would have been better if she had requested weekly. I will perhaps suggest that she calls them and asks for weekly, I think that would help a lot

Not sure about that.  The default option is every 4 weeks (which I'm happy with).  Asking for something else, ie weekly payments, adds another step into the procedure. 

 

jem16

SusieT said:

Her birthday is on a Thursday, payment day is Wednesday so we know the first part week will not count,

The first part week does count now as you’re paid from your 66th birthday. Payment day is one part but there seems to be a billing cycle which no-one really knows what it is. I reach SPA shortly and will receive my first payment 9 days later. This will be my part payment. Full payment will then be 4 weeks later. 

p00hsticks

Silvertabby said:

SusieT said:

Silvertabby said:

When I applied for mine I received a letter almost straight away stating that my first payment of £X would be paid on (date), and that my second (full) payment of £Y would be paid on (date) and then every 4 weeks after that.

When and how did you friend apply for hers?  From my own experience, and other comments on these boards, it seems that on-line applications are more likely to be trouble-free than paper applications.

Thank you, she applied by post, so from your comment that is probably what is holding up the letter for her. 
It does sound though, as if there may be a week or something paid shortly after the first week, and then the full payment later, I think that would help a lot if it happens with her.

Problem is the number of DWP bods who are still working from home.

They can access - and deal with - on-line applications as soon as they pop up on the system.  Paper applications, on the other hand, are sent to a central mail handling depot where the envelopes have to be opened, and the contents manually scanned to the systems before anyone can even look at them.

I'm not convinced that it's really directly related directly to whether staff are working from home or not.

As you say, an online application 'pops up on the system' straight away, whereas there is an unavoidable delay for postal applications because the have to be opened and scanned in order to 'pop up on the system'. But once on the system, both types of application should be equally visible to staff for processing, whether they are in the office or at home.

SusieT

jem16 said:

SusieT said:

Her birthday is on a Thursday, payment day is Wednesday so we know the first part week will not count,

The first part week does count now as you’re paid from your 66th birthday. Payment day is one part but there seems to be a billing cycle which no-one really knows what it is. I reach SPA shortly and will receive my first payment 9 days later. This will be my part payment. Full payment will then be 4 weeks later. 

That is interesting, perhaps she will get a payment fairly close to her birthday so she does not have to borrow. 

SusieT

Silvertabby said:

SusieT said:

northernsparky said:

Well I’m about to make my application- it will also request payments to be made weekly. 

Hopefully that should avoid a long wait- even if they don’t make the first weeks part payment.

Longer term she should be ok with 4 weekly, but right now it would have been better if she had requested weekly. I will perhaps suggest that she calls them and asks for weekly, I think that would help a lot

Not sure about that.  The default option is every 4 weeks (which I'm happy with).  Asking for something else, ie weekly payments, adds another step into the procedure. 

 

I will be happy with 4 weekly (at least I hope I still will) when I eventually reach it, but for her if it means getting something earlier it may be worth it. I think she also needs to look into pension credits as that will helpit to stretch a bit more.

xylophone

I think she also needs to look into pension credits as that will helpit to stretch a bit more.

She should read

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

Silvertabby

p00hsticks said:

Silvertabby said:

SusieT said:

Silvertabby said:

When I applied for mine I received a letter almost straight away stating that my first payment of £X would be paid on (date), and that my second (full) payment of £Y would be paid on (date) and then every 4 weeks after that.

When and how did you friend apply for hers?  From my own experience, and other comments on these boards, it seems that on-line applications are more likely to be trouble-free than paper applications.

Thank you, she applied by post, so from your comment that is probably what is holding up the letter for her. 
It does sound though, as if there may be a week or something paid shortly after the first week, and then the full payment later, I think that would help a lot if it happens with her.

Problem is the number of DWP bods who are still working from home.

They can access - and deal with - on-line applications as soon as they pop up on the system.  Paper applications, on the other hand, are sent to a central mail handling depot where the envelopes have to be opened, and the contents manually scanned to the systems before anyone can even look at them.

I'm not convinced that it's really directly related directly to whether staff are working from home or not.

As you say, an online application 'pops up on the system' straight away, whereas there is an unavoidable delay for postal applications because the have to be opened and scanned in order to 'pop up on the system'. But once on the system, both types of application should be equally visible to staff for processing, whether they are in the office or at home.

Probably - but I there also seems to be an element of automation with the on-line applications.

In my case, I submitted my application in the week between Christmas and New Year.  The letter I mentioned, which gave the exact amounts due and payment dates, was dated the day after I had applied.  Didn't receive the letter for a couple of weeks after that, but that was probably due to the letter being checked before release, and delays in the postal system at that time.  

Albermarle

SusieT said:

Asking for a friend not on here, does anyone know when the (new) SP is paid for the first time? Her birthday is on a Thursday, payment day is Wednesday so we know the first part week will not count, after that the website says it will be expected within the first 5 weeks. My reading of that means that it will most likely be at the end of the 4 weeks from the Wednesday beginning the first full week (if that makes sense).
She is very worried about it being in time before the savings run out that are currently paying the new gas and electric rates and the rise in cost of living, so although she knows there will at some point be a letter telling her when it will be it would be good if someone can put her mind at rest so she can budget for it and possibly plan a work around until it starts if she needs to.. 

If a short delay in the state pension being paid causes significant issues, then your friend is going to find retirement rather difficult financially. A single person living off the state pension, is not a nice place to be.
Hopefully you can help her claim any benefits she may be entitled to. The post above has a link to info about pension credits for example. If she can claim income related benefits, she will also get some of the cost of living allowance for this year. Although this is not something that will be available long term .

According to this if pension credit is claimed by 24th August, you can still get some of the cost of living allowance + of course the regular pension credit payments.

If she is renting or paying a mortgage, she could also claim housing benefit.

SusieT

xylophone said:

I think she also needs to look into pension credits as that will helpit to stretch a bit more.

She should read

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

Thank you, I have told her about the pension credits, and suggested that she applies now so that she gets that as soon as possible

Albermarle said:

SusieT said:

Asking for a friend not on here, does anyone know when the (new) SP is paid for the first time? Her birthday is on a Thursday, payment day is Wednesday so we know the first part week will not count, after that the website says it will be expected within the first 5 weeks. My reading of that means that it will most likely be at the end of the 4 weeks from the Wednesday beginning the first full week (if that makes sense).
She is very worried about it being in time before the savings run out that are currently paying the new gas and electric rates and the rise in cost of living, so although she knows there will at some point be a letter telling her when it will be it would be good if someone can put her mind at rest so she can budget for it and possibly plan a work around until it starts if she needs to.. 

If a short delay in the state pension being paid causes significant issues, then your friend is going to find retirement rather difficult financially. A single person living off the state pension, is not a nice place to be.
Hopefully you can help her claim any benefits she may be entitled to. The post above has a link to info about pension credits for example. If she can claim income related benefits, she will also get some of the cost of living allowance for this year. Although this is not something that will be available long term .

According to this if pension credit is claimed by 24th August, you can still get some of the cost of living allowance + of course the regular pension credit payments.

If she is renting or paying a mortgage, she could also claim housing benefit.

Thank you, we had a long chat last night and I have told her about the pension credits, and it does look as if she will be able to get them, so she will apply today, hopefully that will also trigger the cost of living as well. I think she was also worrying about the delays to paying that were in the news a while back, but it seems that has (mostly?) caught up so I have managed to put her mind at rest a bit there. 
She has done a realistic budget, and luckily does not have any debt to pay, and I think if the pension is paid within 2 weeks of her birthday she will be ok as she is cutting back as much as possible now on little things so that she should have enough when the pension comes in. From what she said and looking at the dates, I may be able to lend her a few £ if she does get short as it will tie in to when I (at the moment) will have a bit spare and I know it will be repaid as she hates thinking she owes anyone anything. 
I am also going to either write a letter for her to the energy company, or, get her to call them and pass them to me as based on her normal yearly kw for both gas and electric they seem to have overestimated the useage, and therefore the dd is set at a rate that is far too high. Reducing this will make a big difference to her, but it is good that she is aware early and can act now rather than wait until later and find out that she has a problem.