Converting A Classic Civil Service Pension To A Different Type Of Pension

Marcon

Ripley43 said:

@xylophone I see what you're saying but Steve Webb is using the Universal Credit Regs and not the ESA Regs, would UC Regs apply to my Mum when she is NOT in receipt of UC or will be as she is not going to migrate?

I don't think anyone here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer, so why not email Steve Webb and ask him to investigate/try to get clarification: steve.webb@lcp.uk.com

I'd give him the link to this thread - even if he isn't registered to post here, I think he can access it without being registered(?).

mybestattempt

Marcon said:

Ripley43 said:

@xylophone I see what you're saying but Steve Webb is using the Universal Credit Regs and not the ESA Regs, would UC Regs apply to my Mum when she is NOT in receipt of UC or will be as she is not going to migrate?

I don't think anyone here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer, so why not email Steve Webb and ask him to investigate/try to get clarification: steve.webb@lcp.uk.com

I'd give him the link to this thread - even if he isn't registered to post here, I think he can access it without being registered(?).

@Ripley43, I agree with @Marcon on this.

If you do ask, will you let us know what Steve Webb has to say please?

xylophone

I wonder if he will be able to get a definitive answer?

Ripley43

@Marcon. @xylophone, @mybestattempt , @woolly_wombat

If I do email Steve Webb on Mum's behalf I will of course post anything he has to say. 

As I said to @xylophone he does seem to be using the Universal Credit Regs which I don't think will apply to Mum as she receives ESA.

Marcon

xylophone said:

I wonder if he will be able to get a definitive answer?

Only one way to find out!

Ripley43

@Marcon, @mybestattempt, @xylophone and @Sarahspangles It seems someone on Rightsnet has beat me to it in contacting Steve Webb for clarification see https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/20734 

Sarahspangles

Ripley43 said:

@Marcon, @mybestattempt, @xylophone and @Sarahspangles It seems someone on Rightsnet has beat me to it in contacting Steve Webb for clarification see https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/20734 

That’s interesting. I can’t tell who the ‘they’ is at the end who has gone back to DWP. Hopefully it’s one of the organisations mentioned i.e. a general question rather than a narrow example.

Marcon

Ripley43 said:

@Marcon, @mybestattempt, @xylophone and @Sarahspangles It seems someone on Rightsnet has beat me to it in contacting Steve Webb for clarification see https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/20734 

Have they contacted Steve Webb? I could only see a reference to contacting DWP.

xylophone

It seems someone on Rightsnet has beat me to it in contacting Steve Webb for clarification ...

I am not sure about this.

The Poster on Rightsnet ( Paul Treloar) starts off

Bit of an odd one has arisen from a newspaper columnist. Someone asked them if I start taking my NHS pension (a defined benefit pension pot) at 60 will it affect Universal Credit payments? They asked “Am I best just leaving them all until I draw my state pension, which I believe I do at 66, and drawing them altogether at the same time?”

The enquirer who originally contacted the newspaper columnist is the "someone". The "them" can only have been  the newspaper
columnist.

But then the "they" must be the "someone".


Paul Treloar has used both direct and indirect speech (which can be confusing) and  singular and plural pronouns when making

reference to a singular columnist and a singular enquirer.

He then goes on to discuss DWP guidance on pensions and benefits.

He finishes up

I’ve gone around this in circles trying to bottom this out and welcome anyone’s thoughts on this. They have gone back to DWP to seek clarification as well.

The original enquirer has gone back to DWP?  There has never been a supplementary enquiry addressed to Steve Webb?

xylophone

On the discussion in the Rightsnet link, it seems to me that no weight has been given to the fact that a DC pot can be completely extinguished before death (and indeed before PCA/SPA) whereas the DB pension (whether taken before at or after  Normal Scheme Pension Age) continues until death (and  beyond in the case of certain dependants).

It would be quite unreasonable to expect a 55 year old with a DC pension to draw on it and possibly use all or most of it in the years before State Pension/Pension Credit Age.

A person with a Classic CSP has the absolute right to a PCLS and secure  (and fully index linked) monthly income from the age of 60.

Such a person cannot even make the argument that there is an advantage to him  in the form of late retirement increases (ie a supplement to the NRA pension)  because there are none on this particular section of the scheme.

Therefore the DWP could argue that the only reason the person would continue to defer is to maintain or increase  means tested benefits.

DWP could then make the case that even if the DB Classic is not drawn until PCA, the moment that it is drawn it can be regarded as

having been drawn at NSPA, ie the date it could be expected to be acquired if a claim was made.

Paul Treloar comments

I’ve gone around this in circles trying to bottom this out

and I see his point.  Further, I speak as one who for a number of years worked in a department whose sole raison d'etre was  the

administration of a certain area of law.

Questions of interpretation would simply be referred on and on up the line until ( I assume) they reached the actual law makers.

I don't recall any case I ever dealt with having got that far though.

Steve Webb was very cautious in answering the question put to him and that does not surprise me at all.