Married Womens State Pension LEAP

Klare1

Hope someone out there has some knowledge of the State Pension LEAP exercise please, as it appears overly complicated.
Both my parents are still alive, married to each other and still living together in the same house as husband and wife.
Dad born May 1933 State Pension £828.48 every 4 weeks.
Mum born Nov 1933 State Pension £341.00 every 4 weeks.

Is Mum in this category? 

• Women with husbands who turned 65 before 17 March 2008 needed to manually claim 60% of his entitlement. This group will not be paid automatically and so must claim to have their pension enhanced, which can be backdated by 12 months. They are not currently eligible for any repayments stretching back further than 12 months, although some are taking cases to the Pensions Ombudsman to see whether they can claim more.

If so, do we have to ring up to claim it or can we write a letter? Both parents are extremely frail and hard of hearing but don't have an appointee.  Also does anyone know why it's not being backdated further than 12 months? 

Many thanks for any advice  

kaMelo

If I remember correctly the scenario you describe cannot be backdated longer as no error has occurred. It requires the woman to actively claim it as you mention it and notice would have been given about this, unfortunately it was usually sent to the husband.

This is written into the legislation and the only way to increase backdating would be a change to the legislation. 

There is an article on 'this is money' website written by Steve Webb where he explains the reasons why.

Alice_Holt

Klare1 said:

 Both parents are extremely frail and hard of hearing.... 

     Are they claiming Attendance Allowance?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/attendance-allowance/

p00hsticks

as an aside, if there is any other income coming in that makes them tax payers, then their age makes them eligible for Married Couples Allowance, so check that they are claiming it

https://www.gov.uk/married-couples-allowance

p00hsticks

Klare1 said:

If so, do we have to ring up to claim it or can we write a letter? Both parents are extremely frail and hard of hearing but don't have an appointee.  Also does anyone know why it's not being backdated further than 12 months? 

Many thanks for any advice  

Writing may be better anyhow - I think from other previous posts on the topic the back office people working through these claims don;t have a specific customer facing helpline, so phoning tends to result in someone simply making a note of your request and hopefully passing it on it the correct area.

Contact details for the Pension Service are here

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service 

Klare1

Alice_Holt said:

Klare1 said:

 Both parents are extremely frail and hard of hearing.... 

     Are they claiming Attendance Allowance?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/attendance-allowance/

Thanks Alice, yes we get higher rate AA for Dad as he was diagnosed with dementia and heart problems in 2019.  Mum has just started to decline and has had a memory test at the GP and is waiting on a dementia assessment referral.  We've just arranged for a carer to come Mon-Thurs with my brother doing Fri and me Sat/Sun as they are forgetting to take medication/eat etc, so as soon as I have the diagnosis and it's been 6 months I'll put in a claim for Mum and AA.

Klare1

kaMelo said:

If I remember correctly the scenario you describe cannot be backdated longer as no error has occurred. It requires the woman to actively claim it as you mention it and notice would have been given about this, unfortunately it was usually sent to the husband.

This is written into the legislation and the only way to increase backdating would be a change to the legislation. 

There is an article on 'this is money' website written by Steve Webb where he explains the reasons why.

Thanks kaMelo
I'll take a look at the article.  

Klare1

p00hsticks said:

as an aside, if there is any other income coming in that makes them tax payers, then their age makes them eligible for Married Couples Allowance, so check that they are claiming it

https://www.gov.uk/married-couples-allowance

Thanks p00hsticks Tax always a headache.  Dad gets an occupational pension and I think he pays tax on it, so I'll take a look and write to DWP for a review of Mum's pension. 

kaMelo

Looking at your post again I had missed the fact that your father's pension is in excess of the old basic state pension.
The old basic state pension is currently £141.85 p/w so £567.40 ever four weeks, as his pension is  £828.48 every four weeks he must have some entitlement to SERPS/S2P and/or Graduated Retirement Benefit which is boosting his pension to this amount.
Whilst his wife can claim a state pension based on her husbands contributions, at a minimum of 60%, this is based only on the basic state pension their husband receives, it does not include any of SERPS/S2P or GRB he is entitled to.

Going off the current figures of £141.85 per week,  60% of this is £85.11 per week or £340.44 every four weeks. Given what you said your mother is receiving it looks like her current pension is correct.