Mothers entitlement to my deceased fathers pension

jonney92

Hello,

We have been chasing DWP for awhile with no luck and not even a response or reply from them after 2 signed for recorded letters and emails. 

My dad was born 1st September 1950

My mum received a state pension forecast on 18th August 2023. 

We promptly challenged the amount via telephone based on the following reasons:

• Her online state pension forecast advised she would be receiving £186.37 a week. The confirmed amount is £180.55.

• We believe she is also due to inherit 50% of her late husband’s state pension as per the guidelines outlined at https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting

My dad began claiming his state pension before 6th April 2016 and the resultant rule change.

Are we entitled to my late fathers pension or not? 

Thank you in advance for your replies 

GunJack

If your mum isn't/wasn't due her sp until after 2016 then there are a specific set of rules applied...I can't find a link at the moment but someone will probably chip in before too long

jonney92

GunJack said:

If your mum isn't/wasn't due her sp until after 2016 then there are a specific set of rules applied...I can't find a link at the moment but someone will probably chip in before too long

Thank you just want some clarity as trying to get a answer from them is a nightmare! Hopefully some more people can shed some light on it 

Keep_pedalling

Was your father in receipt of a final salary pension scheme? If he was he would have likely to be contracted out of the additional state pension so there may be nothing to inherit. 

jonney92

Keep_pedalling said:

Was your father in receipt of a final salary pension scheme? If he was he would have likely to be contracted out of the additional state pension so there may be nothing to inherit. 

I'm not sure if he was in receipt of a final salary pension scheme this is something I need to look into.

Could you explain this part more contracted out of the additional state pension please sorry have completely no knowledge on pensions 

molerat

Her online state pension forecast advised she would be receiving £186.37 a week. The confirmed amount is £180.55.

Likely she read the big green box at the top, which makes assumptions, and not the whole of the forecast.  The difference is one year at the 23/24 rate or that could be a coincidence if that is the 24/25 payment - her annual letter will show if she is receiving anything other than the basic new pension.  There may still be opportunities to top up but be aware of the pension credit booby trap if she does, time is running out on some of those years though.

We believe she is also due to inherit 50% of her late husband’s state pension

She may be entitled to up to half his additional pension, not the full pension, which could be very little if he was contracted out.  How much per week was his pension, the letter received each year lays out the pension make up ?

Keep_pedalling

jonney92 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Was your father in receipt of a final salary pension scheme? If he was he would have likely to be contracted out of the additional state pension so there may be nothing to inherit. 

I'm not sure if he was in receipt of a final salary pension scheme this is something I need to look into.

Could you explain this part more contracted out of the additional state pension please sorry have completely no knowledge on pensions 

If he was on a FS your mother should be receiving a surviving spouses pension from it.

Contracting out see link.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/blog/retirement/cope-and-the-state-pension

xylophone

You are saying that your father reached SPA in the old system but your mother  in the new?

See p 12  onwards here

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a758e27e5274a6faebebd94/derived-inherited-entitlement.pdf

jonney92

 thanks we'll contact private pension to understand if he's opted out of the additional state pension or not as that seems to be the key question to if she's eligible for it or not

Appreciate everyone's help and if anyone wants to add more that would be great 

molerat

It is not his contracting out that defines eligibility rather that contracting out reduces any amount of available additional pension to inherit, she would still be entitled but to half of maybe £0.  The private pension will have no knowledge of how much or how little additional pension he had and would only know if he was or was not contracted out with them and to be honest contacting them would likely be a waste of time, DWP are the only ones with any knowledge around the situation.  The vast majority of contracting out was with "final salary" pensions particularly with government service, local authorities and large scale employers, what was his job ? If she is receiving a widow's pension from that organisation it would be worth looking into the eligibility and affordability of topping up her own state pension which would have no effect on any inherited additional pension.

Blue_Butterfly

I'm a widow who reached SPA in 2023 and inherited additional state pension. I didn't need to apply separately for this, it was calculated automatically from the questions asked on the online SPA application.

You get a letter telling you how much SP you will receive every 4 weeks, it was the total amount without any breakdown between my own accrual and the inherited amount. There was a sentence on the letter saying that my SP included a Protected Payment inherited from (late husbands name). My award letter took 6 weeks to arrive, whereas most people without an inherited element tend to get them in 1 week.

My inherited Protected Payment didn't appear on any SP forecasts. I was only able to work out how much I inherited because I knew how much I had accrued in my own right.