April State Pension paid early to avoid increase?

zagfles

p00hsticks said:

zagfles said:

J63320 said:

zagfles said:

…

But it is about time the state pension moved into the modern world and was paid monthly (at least as an option) …

That sounds like a very reasonable request … until you realise that it would involve serious tweaking of a government computer system or the implementing of a new one. The government’s record on such projects is abysmal. They would employ an outside company at enormous expense, it would take decades to implement, and then when it started making mistakes they would blame the pensioners (see Post Office/Fujitsu). 

but this is a trivial change. Multiply the weekly amount by 4.3482 (ie 365.25/12/7).

I suspect the reason they don't is, as they've found with universal credit, a small minority are incapable of budgetting for a whole month and end up overspending when they get paid and then going to foodbanks when they run out.

Trust me, it really isn't the trivial change you make out. For a start, it's not just converting a four weekly amount to a monthly amount (and your simplistic calculation fails to take into account that different months are of different lengths) , it's changing the whole payment cycle system to move from paying people on the same day every week to paying them on different days. 

Well obviously different months are different lengths, but the average month length is as I calculated. How do you think monthly payrolls, which the vast majority of big employers use, work? Do you think they pay more in Jan than Feb? No, they pay 1/12th of the annual amount per month. Most employers in the old days paid weekly in cash, now they mostly pay monthly. It was an easy change. It didn't cause armageddon.

The demand for it doesn't justify the expense and risk of making the change to a really archaic old system that probably a vanishingly small team of people these days know how to maintain and update. If and when a completely new system is built, as there had to be for Universal Credit, then I'm sure there will be an option to get paid monthly.  .

If they don't know how to maintain it it needs replacing anyway....

That's the reason, not the one you suggest. For a start, people incapable of budgetting for a whole month are likely to be those opting to get their pension payments weekly anyhow, so a shift from four-weekly to monthly isn't gonig to make any difference to them. 

Switching between weekly and 4-weekly is trivial, switching between weekly and monthly isn't (due to variable length months etc as mentioned earlier), so if it went monthly it may be too complicated to offer the weekly option.

Hal17

As per the OP first post, I noticed my state pension payment for April is at the old rate.

It should have been paid on Monday 10th April which would have been at the new rate, but instead of delaying it until the 11th, they paid me yesterday 6th April at the old rate. My wife gets her state pension one day later than me, so will be interesting to see what she gets.

zagfles

Hal17 said:

As per the OP first post, I noticed my state pension payment for April is at the old rate.

It should have been paid on Monday 10th April which would have been at the new rate, but instead of delaying it until the 11th, they paid me yesterday 6th April at the old rate. My wife gets her state pension one day later than me, so will be interesting to see what she gets.

You got paid exactly what you would have if you'd been paid on the 10th if it wasn't a bank holiday. Read the thread (well the useful parts anyway!)

xylophone

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00260/SN00260.pdf

2.1 People who reached pension age before 6 April 2010

The State Pension is a weekly benefit, paid in multiples of a week.12 It can be paid weekly in advance, or four-weekly in arrears.

For people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2010, payments start from the payday (normally Monday) after the start of entitlement (or the period claimed if that is later. 

It should have been paid on Monday 10th April which would have been at the new rate, 

Not if you are paid in arrears rather than in advance.

Did you reach SPA on or after 6/4/10? If so, your pension, though paid weekly, is paid in arrears.

Four changes were made for people reaching State Pension age from 6 April 2010, for whom the State Pension and Pension Credit are paid:

• In arrears, not in advance;

• Weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly (or at intervals of 13 weeks

  where the beneficiary agrees);

• On a payday allocated according to the final two digits of the customer’s NI number.

Sarahspangles

My favourite bit of the state pension system is that using the NI number I was issued at 16, I can tell which day of the week my pension will be paid when I’m 67!

GaleSF63

naomigilchrist said:

Has anyone else noticed that their State Pension has been paid early this month BEFORE the increase date (10th April) and WITHOUT the 10.1% increase? Call me cynical but I can’t help but think that this is a deliberate policy on behalf of the government to avoid paying the increase this month! My husband’s pension has always been paid AFTER 10th of the month and yet miraculously it was paid on 6th April this month when the increase takes affect from 10th April…

It was the same last year - Easter is a red herring. My pension was paid on the 12th last year (and the 6th this year because of Easter) and on both occasions was paid at the old rate.

squirrelpie

"Since when is the PO the govt?"

The PO was certainly government-owned when it started developing Horizon. I can't be bothered working out quite where in the development it was privatised.

badmemory

The only people with any interest in underpaying our state pension are those who are very senior & I doubt very much that they have the know how.

MACKEM99

Sarahspangles said:

My favourite bit of the state pension system is that using the NI number I was issued at 16, I can tell which day of the week my pension will be paid when I’m 67!

My favourite part is something I read a few years ago regarding payment dates.  Cant recall exactly the wording but it was to do with payment days.  If you were paid on a certain day you were paid a bit less for the first week you qualified - but the wording said - it will even out as you get those days back when you pass away!

MikeyPGT

Sarahspangles said:

My favourite bit of the state pension system is that using the NI number I was issued at 16, I can tell which day of the week my pension will be paid when I’m 67!

Really? How?  I must have missed that day when they taught it at school!