Old State Pension

JSL_2

Hello, My Father passed away recently and now helping mother sort out financial matters.
Mother says he was receiving approx £970 per 4 weeks, from his state pension, which seems to be a lot more than the basic old state pension . He had also a DB Pension of around 10.5K , Which he paid some tax on.  Mother doesn't get the full SP , Only around 6k PA, assumning she had not enough NI Contributions. She did say he was paying extra payments, not sure where.

Would/Could this have been extra NI Contributions ?

Will Mother be entitled to anymore SP now , from what father was getting above the basic pension?

Should she be entitled to more SP now she is widowed ?

She won't qualify for any benefits , as has some other investments.

Any Help Appreciated.

molerat

She did say he was paying extra payments, not sure where.

Would/Could this have been extra NI Contributions ?

Maybe she bought some additional years or made class 3A contributions.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-top-up-class-3a-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions

Will Mother be entitled to anymore SP now , from what father was getting above the basic pension?

Should she be entitled to more SP now she is widowed ?

(Assuming both were pre 2016 pensioners) Yes.  She will likely be entitled to the full basic pension plus half of any additional pension plus any additional pension of her own. It is fairly complicated.

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/inheritance-spouse-civil-partner

german_keeper

Sorry for your loss. Has the death been reported through Tell Us Once? My FIL died in December last year. He also had an old state pension with "extras" added on. We reported his death via Tell Us Once and within a week or so a letter arrived with full details of my MIL inherited pension. I was able to compare the amounts on this letter with the annual uprating letter FIL had received in February last year and work out the percentages. We were very impressed with the service. Hopefully that's the norm, not the exception.

Just as a general point, we found the service we received from all organisations, banks, pension providers, DWP etc. was very good. The only one who seemed to struggle a bit was the energy supplier and all they had to do was change the name on the account! I hope you and your mother have a similar experience.  

Linton

Perhaps you will find a State Pension statement amongst your father's papers which should explain how his SP was calculated.  Pre 2016 state pensions can be complicated, but many people will have received well above the "basic".

xylophone

Your late father should have received a  DWP letter (Feb/March) detailing the makeup of his SP.

Presumably DWP has been advised  that he has died.

It seems that both parents reached SPA pre 6 /4/16.

Your mother is likely to be eligible to receive a full basic on his contributions, and a proportion of his Additional State Pension, 

See (p21 onwards)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a758e27e5274a6faebebd94/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf 

A full basic SP is currently £169.50.

JSL_2

Thanks for all the replies, very much appreciated, the information and links is very helpful !

SacredStephan

JSL_2 said:

He had also a DB Pension of around 10.5K

Your Mother might be entitled to a survivors pension.

Bytes1ze

Hi. I just wanted some advice before contacting DWP. 

Before my mother (divorced) went into a care home (aged 83) 5 years ago, she received the old state pension with pension credits. She owned a flat which is now rented out to help suplement her care costs. However, after becoming a care home resident her pension credit was stopped due to her flat being treated as an asset.

She only receives a small state pension due to the number of "Year is not full" NI records. Only 5 full years up to 1975 and then 12 "Year is not full" years between 1975 and 1987 and then "Full year" from 1987 to 1997.

She was a parent caring for my sister (born 1963) and myself (born 1965) and then for my brother (born 1974).

Is it true that you can receive NI credits if you are a parent caring for a child under 12?

If so, with my sister and myself being under 12 before 1975, would she expect to have received 12 years of credits before 1975 (1963(my sisters DoB) to 1975 = 12 years) and then a further 11 NI credits between 1975 and 1986 for my brother (1974 (my brother DoB) to 1986 = 12 years)?

If true, she could be missing (12-5) = 7 years of NI credits up to 1975 and a further 11 years of NI credits (1975 to 1986) when my brother turned 12.

Many thanks for any insight into this from this forum which is very much appreciated.

Linton

From a bit of research...

NI credits replaced the former Home Responsibilities Payment scheme  in 2010.  HRP was introduced in 1978. I see no pre 1978 schemes.

You can look into the details in https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/national-insurance-manual/nim41250 and referenced doucments.

I picked up that HRP years were deducted from the number of years required for a full SP in doing the caculation.

molerat

As she was a pre 2010 retiree she came under a completely different system as far as NI credits for child benefit are concerned.  HRP would be awarded for a child up to 16 from the 1978-79 tax year but would not be shown on her NI record. It did not give NI credits but reduced the number of years required for a full pension.  She could have 12 years of HRP which would mean she only needed 27 (39-12) years of NI to receive the full pension with less years being calculated pro rated so x/27ths of the full pension.  So how many full years are showing on her record and how much pension is she receiving ?  It looks likely around 15 years so she could be entitled to 15/27ths of the full pension which is below the 60% spouse pension she may be receiving.

LHW99

@Bytes1ze If she is divorced, can she get her pension based on her divorced husband's record?

I am unsure if that is still available for pre2016 retirees, but I know when my mother claimed her old SP back in the 80's, she was asked to give whatever details of him she had (not much as they had been divorced for over 30 years at that point), and did get more SP than her own contributions would have given her.

Also, does she get Attendance Allowance? That isn't means tested, and the home should help with the application. Most people in a care home would be entitled to that I think.