State Pension Payment

julstev

My partner of 20 plus years is due to receive his State Pension next year.  He doesn’t have and doesn’t want a bank account.  Can his State Pension be paid into my bank account to manage household bills etc? 

Thanks

Marcon

https://www.gov.uk/nominate-someone-to-collect-state-pension#:~:text=Contact%20your%20account%20provider%20to,eg%20with%20a%20second%20card.

Another possibility would be for him to open a savings account and have his state pension paid into that, which might keep life a bit simpler in terms of keeping track for tax etc for both of you.

p00hsticks

I think he probably could, but whether it is a good idea or not in the long term is another matter. 
You need to think about what would happen if you should predecease him and your bank account was frozen.
How would he then get money and pay those household bills ?  

There is a payment exception service for paying benefits to people without bank accounts, but unless he can provide a better reason for not having a bank account than simply that he doesn't want one, he may find that that is suggested as the way forward.
Payment Exception Service - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Keep_pedalling

How does anyone manage to function without a bank account these days?

Would he consider a joint account? Having it paid into your sole account could be disastrous if something happened to you especially if you are not married or in a civil partnership.

Silvertabby

Meeting the conditions of the Payment Exemption Service (poohstick's link) seems to be much more of a faff than opening a simple bank account!

If he is adamant that he doesn't want his own account, then a joint account is really the only way to go.  

Stubod

..a joint account would seem like a good idea to me....

r6mile

Keep_pedalling said:

How does anyone manage to function without a bank account these days?

Would he consider a joint account? Having it paid into your sole account could be disastrous if something happened to you especially if you are not married or in a civil partnership.

This is my main question, how is it even possible to get wages or invoices etc paid without a bank account, how do you even pay for any services like council tax etc or TV licence? Presumably the individual has been employed as he has accrued NI credits?

JoeCrystal

Keep_pedalling said:

How does anyone manage to function without a bank account these days?

Would he consider a joint account? Having it paid into your sole account could be disastrous if something happened to you especially if you are not married or in a civil partnership.

r6mile said:

This is my main question, how is it even possible to get wages or invoices etc paid without a bank account, how do you even pay for any services like council tax etc or TV licence? Presumably the individual has been employed as he has accrued NI credits?

Yes, it is possible to function without a bank account, it's just not very easy. And there will always be barriers like being inability to pay into a pension scheme or get car and other kind of insurance. It is still possible to pay for the vital important bills in cash. Council Tax and TV licences can still be paid by postal order or Paypoint / Payzone. Pre-paid, energy meters can be paid in cash as they can be topped up at Paypoint / Payzone or whatever is available. Internet generally can also be paid, and you can top up the phone PAYG in stores. As long you have access to Post Office, Paypoint and Payzone, it is generally possible to cover your bills. For most people, direct debits are just a convenient way to pay their bills. But there is still a large number of people in this country who, for some reason, refuse to get a bank account, either due to difficulty in proving their identity, being in the country illegally,  running away from debts or just plain suspicion. It is still possible to be paid in cash by your employer (as long they do everything proper to HMRC) and many landlords prefer to get rent in cash. 

It is also worth bearing in mind that he may not just have a bank account but still has savings accounts with NS&I  or even credit union savings accounts. I did some quick googling, and FCA reckons that there are still 700k who do not have any bank accounts, with 400k having the accounts mentioned above but not actual bank accounts.

Here is the link to the FCA document regarding the unbanked. It is an interesting reading, at least. Page 183 onwards.

https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/financial-lives/financial-lives-survey-2022-key-findings.pdf

The only major issue is any transactions that take online by using debit/credit cards, so you are much more likely unable to pay digitally for shopping and so on. And even then, there are a lot of gift card brands you can get in shop. I know someone who buys Amazon gift card, not for as a gift but as a way to pay for Amazon Prime and generally shopping. https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=13829821031

I suppose if you never find the need to pay the bills in cash but using direct debits or cards, you don't need to know there are other options to pay. After all, why would you need to?  

xylophone

Perhaps the OP pays all bills/manages other transactions and  the partner  hands over  a cash sum every week or month as a contribution.

Perhaps the account could be made joint?