State Pension

Fluterman

I wonder how many Pensioners on this site are aware of the following issue. State Pension is paid every 4 weeks, thirteen payments per year. You cannot opt for it to be paid monthly, as this is not an option. Consequently each month you are paid less than you would be if you were paid monthly. Example State Pension is to rise to £11502.40 from April 2024. Divide this by 12 monthly payments it would be £958.53 per month.
Due to being paid every four weeks you will only get £884.80 per month. This is a shortfall of £73.73 each month. The thirteenth payment will be paid at some point in the year resulting in two payments being made in one month. In my case it will be paid in October 2024, therefore for the first six months from April 2024 to September 2024, I will be £73.73 worse off each month. I would personally prefer to be paid monthly at the end of each month. The only reason I can see that the monthly payment option is not available, is so the government can hold on to our money longer to gain interest for the treasury.  

On-the-coast

I agree that monthly would be a sensible option.
however, by paying every 4 weeks, the goverment is actually holding onto your money very slightly less than it would under a monthly scenario.... so if anything the interest works in your favour. 

Brie

Makes budgeting impossible for some.  Not like they can get their bills changed from monthly to 4weekly.  

stuhse

I used to work at British Rail where you also got paid  4 weekly.  It was great , one month a year you got a pay cheque that didnt have to pay your mortgage...it was a great month.

molerat

The DWP benefits system is set up for weekly and multiples thereof payments and it would be difficult to change it.  If you really cannot manage on 4 weekly payments opt to have it paid weekly which will lead to 4 or 5 payments per month, still not perfect but will stop the big double payment once a year.

The only reason I can see that the monthly payment option is not available, is so the government can hold on to our money longer to gain interest for the treasury.

Another conspiracy theorist I see.  The pension is paid immediately it is due at the end of the 4 week period, no one is holding on to your money.  As above, opt for weekly and it will be paid at the end of the week it is due.

xylophone

Makes budgeting impossible for some. 

Could you explain how?

DE_612183

State pension is calculated on a weekly basis and paid every 4 weeks - same as lots of other benefits.

I don't think you actually lose out - it's just harder to budget if all your bills are monthly.

xylophone

State Pension is paid every 4 weeks,

 State pension is actually a weekly benefit and you can opt to have it paid weekly - would this be more satisfactory?

Qyburn

This is why I'm going to choose weekly payment. I believe they try to resist this, but in law it's a weekly entitlement, and to rub it in you're actually taxed on what you would have received weekly.

BikingBud

Brie said:

Makes budgeting impossible for some.  Not like they can get their bills changed from monthly to 4weekly.  

Surely not impossible, slightly more time consuming as it requires effort to plan but not impossible. If that were the case payments that went out at differing times in the month to incoming funds would not be occurring and people everywhere would be running into debt.

From here

A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, other impacts, assets, liabilities and cash flows. Companies, governments, families, and other organizations use budgets to express strategic plans of activities in measurable terms.

So perhaps the issue that some cannot budget not that it is impossible, as we recognise this is a very different and separate issue.

p00hsticks

Brie said:

Makes budgeting impossible for some.  Not like they can get their bills changed from monthly to 4weekly.  

Given how easy it is to open bank accounts now (and that it is always a good idea to have more than one at different banks in case one gets frozen or has a software glitch) then a simple way to budget monthly if you want to is to get your four-weekly pension paid into one account purely for that purpose and then set up a monthly standing order transfer into your 'normal' bank account.

If you can afford to put a little in to fund the new account to start with then you can have the standing order reflect the true monthly amount straight away, otherwise it will have to be for just the four weekly amount until the month that the 'additional' 13th payment arrives, after which you'll have the funds available to increase the standing order..