Frequency of State Pension

Marcon

etienneg said:

sgx2000 said:

So why no monthly choice?

When SP was introduced, most people were paid weekly, so it was set up as a weekly benefit. That law has never changed - hence you still have the right to have it paid weekly.

It's trivial to calculate exactly the four weekly amount, and payment less often costs less to administer, whch is why DWP prefer four weekly. But it's not trivial to calculate exactly a monthly amount, as months have different numbers of days. Even an average is difficult, as the number of weeks in a year isn't an integer, and of course even the number of days in a year varies because of leap years.

Employment contracts are typically written starting with an annual salary, with no difference for leap years, so it's simple to divide by 12 to arrive at a "monthly" salary (with no difference for length of months). But without a change in the law, DWP can't do something along these lines, so they stick with weekly or four weekly payments.

The leap years would pose a real issue for those who are totally reliant on their state pension, since they would effectively 'lose' a day if payments changed to a simple 1/12 of annual pension per month - and for anyone on the breadline (or below it), that spells further hardship.

This does seem to be a storm in a thimble.

Qyburn

"Here's some money you're entitled to, do you want it now or shall I hang on to it for three weeks?"

Costabit

Qyburn said:

"Here's some money you're entitled to, do you want to it now or shall I hang onto it for three weeks?"

It’s been interesting and helpful reading through the replies and there doesn’t seem to be definite way to go.
I was still undecided until the above quote settled it.
Weekly it is for me then

many thanks all

poseidon1

Costabit said:

Qyburn said:

"Here's some money you're entitled to, do you want to it now or shall I hang onto it for three weeks?"

It’s been interesting and helpful reading through the replies and there doesn’t seem to be definite way to go.
I was still undecided until the above quote settled it.
Weekly it is for me then

many thanks all

I was going to suggest Qyburn's pithy comment if made at the start of this thread, would have made all subsequent musings unnecessary. Will remember it whenever anyone else asks me why I take my state pension weekly😊

xylophone

I know a couple of people in receipt of generous DB pensions paid monthly   ( just like their erstwhile salaries)  who still choose to take the

State Pension weekly on the basis that it is better in their interest paying accounts than in HMRC's coffers.

Silvertabby

xylophone said:

I know a couple of people in receipt of generous DB pensions paid monthly   ( just like their erstwhile salaries)  who still choose to take the

State Pension weekly on the basis that it is better in their interest paying accounts than in HMRC's coffers.

In laws are like that.  Plus they reckon that by being paid weekly they will lose less when one dies.

To be honest, we are happy with 4 weekly.  The tiny amount of interest we may lose just doesn't make up for the faff of 8 (or 10) payments per month.  Possibly different for us, however, as our main (RAF) pensions go in on the 27th of each month so we don't have to juggle money to cover DDs/SOs.  

p00hsticks

Silvertabby said:

xylophone said:

I know a couple of people in receipt of generous DB pensions paid monthly   ( just like their erstwhile salaries)  who still choose to take the

State Pension weekly on the basis that it is better in their interest paying accounts than in HMRC's coffers.

In laws are like that.  Plus they reckon that by being paid weekly they will lose less when one dies.

I don't think it works like that, unless they intend ignoring requests from DWP to refund money paid out after death.

 As I understand it, weekly payments are paid in advance, four weekly in arrears.

So if you get paid weekly then you die owing DWP money, and if you get paid four-weekly then they will owe you money (and as I have experienced recently then whoever reported the death via Tell Us once gets a letter from DWP asking where they want the additional payment to be sent). 

Linton

sgx2000 said:

Surely the vast majority of the uk get paid monthly while working......
And we are all used to the occasional longer month....

So why no monthly choice?

All of my bills are direct debit monthly.....

I realise everyone is different, and many will be happy with the options available....

Presumably because from earliest times SP was always paid weekly. All the procedures and software would be based on weekly paments (subsequently expanded to 4X weekly).  Changing everything to base it on a variable length month could be a nightmare.and not economically justifiable.

Also people living on a hand to mouth existance could have problems with the varying month length.

GrubbyGirl_2

Just be glad you don't have to queue up at the post office every week with your pension book and get paid in cash like my grandparents used to do

xylophone

weekly payments are paid in advance

Only for those who started their SP before 6/4/10 - for those who started on or after that date it is weekly in arrears.

https://www.radiotimesmoney.com/retirement/pension-advice/state-pensions-can-be-paid-every-seven-days-says-paul-lewis/