My mum's pension...

stevedeer_uk

Hi All, I hope I'm on the correct forum and someone can point me somewhere.

My 82 year mother only receives £424.32 in state pension a month. She worked most of here life, only stopping bring up her children, then went back to work. I have only discovered this after having power of attorney over her as she is totally deaf and nearly blind, she receives no other benefits beyond her pension. Surely her state pension is wrong and should be double that? Many thanks in advance for your help. Steve 

Brie

Can't advise on the SP as I know there are a number of reasons it might be so low.  There is currently a lot of things being reviewed re women's entitlement to SP so it's worth enquiring on her behalf.  

Does she get any other income/occupational pension?  If not she should be getting pension credits which then would give her a number of freebies - free dental care etc.  And being deaf and nearly blind she's sure to be eligible for attendance allowance at the lower rate (£68/week?) at the very least.  

Stubod

..possibly not. My mon's circumstances similar although no disability, and she only got about £80 per week, and not entitled to anything else as she had over £25k in savings..??

Flugelhorn

She should apply for AA

Doctor_Who

Stubod said:

..possibly not. My mon's circumstances similar although no disability, and she only got about £80 per week, and not entitled to anything else as she had over £25k in savings..??

As Flugelhorn said, have a look at attendance allowance, it's not means tested.

https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance

p00hsticks

stevedeer_uk said:

Hi All, I hope I'm on the correct forum and someone can point me somewhere.

My 82 year mother only receives £424.32 in state pension a month. She worked most of here life, only stopping bring up her children, then went back to work. I have only discovered this after having power of attorney over her as she is totally deaf and nearly blind, she receives no other benefits beyond her pension. Surely her state pension is wrong and should be double that? Many thanks in advance for your help. Steve 

A few points
Firstly, just to be accurate I suspect you mean £424.32 every four weeks rather than per month ? State Pension is paid either weekly, fortnightly or four weekly, never monthly.  So she's getting £106.08 a week. 

Your mother will have claimed her State Pension at the age of 60, but to get what was then the full 'basic state pension' (currently £156.20 a week) in her own right she would have needed  at least 39 full years of NI contributions. 

Depending on when she stopped work to bring up children, she may not have got any NI credits for that period - Home Responsibilities Protection was only introduced in 1978 for those receiving child benefit.  

If she wasn't entitled to a State Pension in her own right then she'd have been entitled to claim one based on her husbands NI record once he reached State Pension Age, but this is only a maximum of £93.60 a week
The basic State Pension: Increasing or inheriting State Pension from your spouse or civil partner - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As Brie says there are several circumstances that have been recently highlighted where women are potentially being underpaid state pension, but it's also perfectly possible that that amount is correct. There is a massive backlog of claims being reviewed at present, so if you do decide to query it don't expect a swift answer. 

If she doesn't have any other income or much in the way of savings I'd suggest you look at putting in a claim for Pension Credit on her behalf, which will not only give her additional income but also potentially passport her to a number of other benefits.
Pension Credit: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).  

xylophone

Read carefully

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

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs34_attendance_allowance_fcs.pdf

Is your mother a widow?

If so, was her late husband in receipt of a full basic state pension/additional state pension before he died?

stevedeer_uk

xylophone said:

Read carefully

Is your mother a widow?

If so, was her late husband in receipt of a full basic state pension/additional state pension before he died?

Many thanks for this He's still around with full state pension, he has dementia and my mum is his carer and receives no support for this. My mum is a 'just get on with it' person, just trying to get her what's she's entitled to, bit of a minefield!

Doctor_Who

stevedeer_uk said:

xylophone said:

Read carefully

Is your mother a widow?

If so, was her late husband in receipt of a full basic state pension/additional state pension before he died?

Many thanks for this He's still around with full state pension, he has dementia and my mum is his carer and receives no support for this. My mum is a 'just get on with it' person, just trying to get her what's she's entitled to, bit of a minefield!

My mum had dementia. We applied for AA and she was awarded the lower level, we appealed the decision and she was awarded the higher level. As I said, it's not means tested. Your mum may also be eligible for carer's allowance (we never investigated this since my father had passed away).

Pollycat

stevedeer_uk said:

xylophone said:

Read carefully

Is your mother a widow?

If so, was her late husband in receipt of a full basic state pension/additional state pension before he died?

Many thanks for this He's still around with full state pension, he has dementia and my mum is his carer and receives no support for this. My mum is a 'just get on with it' person, just trying to get her what's she's entitled to, bit of a minefield!

I think your parents could do with a review of their income.

The links to AgeUK above are useful and you might want to take a look at the relevant parts of this link:
Benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

and this:
Benefits calculators - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

NB:
savings may have an impact on eligibility to some benefits.

p00hsticks

Doctor_Who said:

stevedeer_uk said:

xylophone said:

Read carefully

Is your mother a widow?

If so, was her late husband in receipt of a full basic state pension/additional state pension before he died?

Many thanks for this He's still around with full state pension, he has dementia and my mum is his carer and receives no support for this. My mum is a 'just get on with it' person, just trying to get her what's she's entitled to, bit of a minefield!

My mum had dementia. We applied for AA and she was awarded the lower level, we appealed the decision and she was awarded the higher level. As I said, it's not means tested. Your mum may also be eligible for carer's allowance (we never investigated this since my father had passed away).

I was also going to suggest that the father apply for Attendance Allowance. Note that this isn't a means-tested benefit so those satisfying the criteria can claim it however much they have in income and/or savings. 

Carers Allowance is a working age benefit so wouldn't be payable to the OP's mum, but I think there can be an 'underlying entitlement' to it for those over State Pension Age whcih can potentially boost other benefits - the people over on the benefits board will know more. 

As Pollycat says, it would be worth getting them a review - my elderly parents recently had someone come to them organised by their local surgery, and she helped them complete forms for both Attendance Allowance and a Blue Badge. I think it is a new initiative from this particular surgery, so not all will offer it, but the local council and/or the Pension Service might be able to point you in the right direction to get something similar.