Pension credit and self employed pension

notabot

I am currently receiving pension credit but my self employed pension will come through in five years time. Will I lose my pension credit when that happens?

xylophone

I am currently receiving pension credit but my self employed pension will come through in five years time.

I don't quite follow this. What kind of pension is this?

How old are you?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-freedoms-and-dwp-benefits/pension-freedoms-and-dwp-benefits

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

whizzywoo

notabot said:

I am currently receiving pension credit but my self employed pension will come through in five years time. Will I lose my pension credit when that happens?

When your self employed private pension comes through it will count as income to be added to the State Pension and other income which is already counted for Pension Credit. 

When you say comes through in 5 years time was it not possible to claim it when you reached State Pension age?  If the answer is yes then have you informed DWP about it?  It should be counted as notional income now for Pension Credit purposes unless it is impossible to claim it until this future date arrives. 

Without knowing how much the future pension will be and how much Pension Credit you receive at the moment it is impossible to answer your question. 

Also if you or your partner, if you have one, were to receive any disability benefits this would increase your threshold for Pension Credit. 

Albermarle

It would be unusual for a pension to only become available after State pension age, so you need to explain in more detail.

notabot

Thank you all for your help. I chose to delay taking my self employed pension until I am 75 in 5 years time. Perhaps I should not have done that, but I am not receiving any income from the self employed pension at the moment. My self employed pension is valued at £37,000. I don't know if that wold be enough to live on.

calcotti

Pension Credit should have been told (by you) of the pension pot and they should have been treating you as receiving notional income from it regardless of whether or not you were taking anything. If that hasn’t been happening you have been overpaid Pension Credit.

whizzywoo

calcotti said:

Pension Credit should have been told (by you) of the pension pot and they should have been treating you as receiving notional information from it regardless of whether or not you were taking anything. If that hasn’t been happening you have been overpaid Pension Credit.

"notional income"  not information...  autocorrect strikes again! @calcotti
🤣

calcotti

whizzywoo said:

calcotti said:

Pension Credit should have been told (by you) of the pension pot and they should have been treating you as receiving notional information from it regardless of whether or not you were taking anything. If that hasn’t been happening you have been overpaid Pension Credit.

"notional income"  not information...  autocorrect strikes again! @calcotti
🤣

Thanks whizzywoo, now corrected.

Albermarle

notabot said:

Thank you all for your help. I chose to delay taking my self employed pension until I am 75 in 5 years time. Perhaps I should not have done that, but I am not receiving any income from the self employed pension at the moment. My self employed pension is valued at £37,000. I don't know if that wold be enough to live on.

Presume you mean it is a pot of £37,000? not a pension of £37,000 per year?

xylophone

Thank you all for your help. I chose to delay taking my self employed pension until I am 75 in 5 years time.

Presumably you reached SPA at least five years ago.

From the first link in my post above.

Once you (or your partner) reach the qualifying age for Pension Credit, you are expected to use your pension or pensions to help support yourself.

If you choose not to buy an annuity after reaching the qualifying age for Pension Credit, an amount of ‘notional’ income will be taken into account when your benefit is worked out. ‘Notional’ income (in this case) is an amount equivalent to the income you would have received if you had bought an annuity.

If you take an income from your pension pot, the amount which will be taken into account when assessing your benefit will be the higher of the actual income or notional income. If you take a cash lump sum, this will be taken into account as capital.

It is your responsibility to tell DWP – and your local council where appropriate – if you or your partner take any money from your pension pot.

You should contact DWP to clarify your situation.

notabot

Albermarle said:

notabot said:

Thank you all for your help. I chose to delay taking my self employed pension until I am 75 in 5 years time. Perhaps I should not have done that, but I am not receiving any income from the self employed pension at the moment. My self employed pension is valued at £37,000. I don't know if that wold be enough to live on.

Presume you mean it is a pot of £37,000? not a pension of £37,000 per year?

That is my total pension pot