Can 'new' state pension be claimed if already in retirement

Fubar1953

Can the new state pension figure be claimed if I am already past state retirement age? I am currently on a weekly state pension of £164.78 but I think I should be eligible for the 'new' state pension of £185.15 as I seem to meet the criteria - (a) a man born on or after 6 April 1951 (b) I reached State Pension age after 6 April 2016 and (c) I paid NI contributions from age 16 to 65, apart from 3 months in 2000 when I was out of work.

I tried to claim online at gov.uk but the process flagged up a message saying they could not verify all the information I had entered which baffled me slightly. I then wrote a letter to them (yes I know that is old school) outlining my details and the fact the online application failed - that was back on 24th June and to this day I have still had no reply from them.

On reading their webpage about the new pension the wording gives the impression that it is geared towards people who are about to retire as it says the online claim procedure will ask for a reference number from the letter sent out by DWP prior to your retirement date. Obviously I never received such a letter as my retirement date was in 2018.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

When did you reach State Pension age?

If it was post 2016 you already are on new State Pension

Fubar1953

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

When did you reach State Pension age?

If it was post 2016 you already are on new State Pension

I reached state pension age in 2018 but I am not on the new pension of £185.15. As mentioned in my post my weekly pension is £164.78. 

MX5huggy

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

Fubar1953

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

molerat

Fubar1953 said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

When did you reach State Pension age?

If it was post 2016 you already are on new State Pension

I reached state pension age in 2018 but I am not on the new pension of £185.15. As mentioned in my post my weekly pension is £164.78. 

You don't automatically get the full amount, you have to have earned it under the transitional rules.  If you were contracted out you would need to have made it up with post 2016 contributions and probably, like me, you would not have had enough time to get the full amount. Were you working post 2016 ?

molerat

Fubar1953 said:

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

If you have 35 years of non contracted out contributions you would be receiving the full amount so something is missing. Do you have a work pension?

Fubar1953

molerat said:

Fubar1953 said:

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

If you have 35 years of non contracted out contributions you would be receiving the full amount so something is missing. Do you have a work pension?

Yes I have two work pensions. I took early retirement in 2015 when I was 62 and lived off the lump sum until I started receiving state pension in April 2018 when I was 65.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Fubar1953 said:

molerat said:

Fubar1953 said:

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

If you have 35 years of non contracted out contributions you would be receiving the full amount so something is missing. Do you have a work pension?

Yes I have two work pensions. I took early retirement in 2015 when I was 62 and lived off the lump sum until I started receiving state pension in April 2018 when I was 65.

So you were likely to have been contracted out at some point and paying less NI as a result.

Instead of getting the basic State Pension you are getting £164.78 of new State Pension.  

Did you consider buying additional years by paying voluntary National Insurance?  You may have been able to add two years (worth £10.58/week) to your existing new State Pension amount.

Marcon

Fubar1953 said:

molerat said:

Fubar1953 said:

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

If you have 35 years of non contracted out contributions you would be receiving the full amount so something is missing. Do you have a work pension?

Yes I have two work pensions. I took early retirement in 2015 when I was 62 and lived off the lump sum until I started receiving state pension in April 2018 when I was 65.

Fubar1953 said:

Can the new state pension figure be claimed if I am already past state retirement age? I am currently on a weekly state pension of £164.78 but I think I should be eligible for the 'new' state pension of £185.15 as I seem to meet the criteria - (a) a man born on or after 6 April 1951 (b) I reached State Pension age after 6 April 2016 and (c) I paid NI contributions from age 16 to 65, apart from 3 months in 2000 when I was out of work.

So you had 3 years from 2015 to 2018 when you weren't paying NI through an employment. Were you paying voluntary contributions during that period, or getting NI credits?

Probably time to get a detailed NI breakdown for the whole of your career. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6267734/is-there-a-really-detailed-online-method-to-check-nics/p1 (second post has the relevant link, the rest may make useful reading).

Fubar1953

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Fubar1953 said:

molerat said:

Fubar1953 said:

MX5huggy said:

Were you contracted out? For any period of your working life? 

No 

If you have 35 years of non contracted out contributions you would be receiving the full amount so something is missing. Do you have a work pension?

Yes I have two work pensions. I took early retirement in 2015 when I was 62 and lived off the lump sum until I started receiving state pension in April 2018 when I was 65.

So you were likely to have been contracted out at some point and paying less NI as a result.

Instead of getting the basic State Pension you are getting £164.78 of new State Pension.  

Did you consider buying additional years by paying voluntary National Insurance?  You may have been able to add two years (worth £10.58/week) to your existing new State Pension amount.

OK thanks for the info. I have to be honest and say I don't fully understand the contracted out process but I know I didn't pay any extra voluntary NI. Having said all that it would have been helpful if the DWP had answered my letter and explained things.