What happens to my mum when dad passes (state and private pension)

UKSBD

Both my parents are mid 80's

Father is currently in hospital, near end of life, if he does pick up he will be under NHS continuos healthcare and they will find him a care home (was in a temporary one being assesed before having to go back in to hospital), they have already said he can't go home as not safe.

Looking at finances with mum, dad currently receives about £1250 a month state pension (he always overpaid), mum only receives £500 a month state pension.

Dad was also receiving about £240 a month carers allowance but this stopped when he went in to hospital/home

What happens when my dad passes away? is my mum expected to live on her £500 state pension?

elsien

You imply mum has care needs if your dad had carers allowance. Has she applied for attendance allowance? 

There is also bereavement support allowance, and in some circumstances it is possible to inherit part of the husband’s state pension,
https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/support/benefits-entitlements/bereavement/what-happens-to-your-pension-when-you-die#:~:text=Your%20State%20Pension%20will%20normally,will%20reach)%20State%20Pension%20age.

Does your dad have any sort of private pension at all? 

UKSBD

Apologies for replying to own post

I've just found this

"If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016

You’ll get any State Pension based on your husband, wife or civil partner’s National Insurance contribution when you claim your own pension." source - https://www.gov.uk/death-spouse-benefits-tax-pension/pensions

Does this mean that as my dad was receiving £1250 a month state pension, my mum will also receive this, because it his based on my dads contributions?

calcotti

If mum were only on her State Pension she would be eligible for Pension Credit to top up her income along with Council Tax Reduction to help her pay her Council Tax (and if renting, Housing Benefit too).

Use a benefit calculator https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

UKSBD

elsien said:

You imply mum has care needs if your dad had carers allowance. Has she applied for attendance allowance? 

There is also bereavement support allowance, and in some circumstances it is possible to inherit part of the husband’s state pension,
https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/support/benefits-entitlements/bereavement/what-happens-to-your-pension-when-you-die#:~:text=Your%20State%20Pension%20will%20normally,will%20reach)%20State%20Pension%20age.

Does your dad have any sort of private pension at all? 

Thanks,

It's the other way round, I said my dad received carers allowance when I should have said attendance allowance.

Mum is reasonably fit and healthy, dad has been bad for a long time and received £250 Attendance allowance (not carers allowance) This was used to pay for carer coming in daily to get him out of bed, get him dressed and to bath him, etc. 

Dad also has a small private pension of about £250 a month.

Thanks for link, will go and see whjat it says there

UKSBD

Found a bit more info now 

"You may also inherit a portion of their Additional State-Pension and a portion of any State Pension top up. If they had put off claiming their State Pension you may inherit a portion of their deferral payment. You may also inherit half their Graduated Retirement Benefit (the earnings-related State Pension people could build up between 1961 and 1975)." souce - https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-through-partner/y/married/your_pension_age_before_specific_date/partner_pension_age_before_specific_date 

I don't know if my dads State pension is so high because he derrered, topped up, put off claiming

Do we know what they mean by "You may also inherit a portion of their Additional State-Pension and a portion of any State Pension top up" - what is a portion?

molerat

Age UK State Pension Fact Sheet 19   Go to section 11.6 and read in conjunction with https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting

UKSBD

calcotti said:

If mum were only on her State Pension she would be eligible for Pension Credit to top up her income along with Council Tax Reduction to help her pay her Council Tax (and if renting, Housing Benefit too).

Use a benefit calculator https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

Thanks

that doesn't appea to take her circumstances in to consideration, or is the fact my father currently receives £1250 a month state pension irrelevant?

I'm trying to find out what portion means, when they say "You may also inherit a portion of their Additional State-Pension and a portion of any State Pension top up"

Does that mean, she will receive the same as he received or does it mean she will automatically receive the minimum amount based on a full NI history (even if she didn't have a full history)?

UKSBD

molerat said:

Age UK State Pension Fact Sheet 19   Go to section 11.6 and read in conjunction with https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting

Thanks

Getting more confused now

Looks like we need to find out why he currently receives £1250 a month state pension, because he deffered or topped up.

How do we find out if he gets extra because of defering or topping up?

On the gov link https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting it says

Any Additional State Pension you inherit will be paid on top of your State Pension when you reach State Pension age.

She can inherit 100% as father was born in January 37

How do we work out what Additional State Pension he currently gets? is it £1250 - what todays state pension is

ie  £1250 - £677 = £573 so we assume he currently receives £573 a month Additional State Pension and my mum will be enitled to 100% of this on top of her current pension?

Marmaduke123

Your father will have received a letter each year setting out his state pension entitlement for the coming tax year. This explains how his pension is made up. Can you find this year's letter, or an old one?

kaMelo

The old state pension is a complex thing, or at least I think it is anyway.
Given the amount your father receives it's highly likely his state pension will comprise of elements like Graduated Retirement Benefit and SERPS/S2P as well as the basic state pension. Each element have their own inheritance rights.

His NI record can be transposed to her record so she should receive the same amount of basic state pension as he gets.  The additional elements inheritance depend upon his and her age, laid out in the table on the page you linked to;



From that it would appear, as long as your mother was born before the date mentioned, then she could inherit 100% of his SERPS element. If he has a Graduated Retirement element then I think she can only inherit 50% of this element.
What happens with the private pension will depend entirely upon the type of pension (DB or DC) and pension scheme rules.

The only way to know exactly how your fathers state pension is made up is either on an award letter or contacting the pension service.      https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service 

If you can get this information then maybe post your question on the pensions board where some regulars are more up to speed on the old state pension rules.