State Pension Overpayment

Ptarmigan127

Hello, I am confused about my State Pension payment. I started receiving State Pension after my 66th birthday in 2023.

A couple of years before retirement I checked with HMRC that I was entitled to full State Pension, as I had a 7 year period of self-employment. They confirmed I was entitled to full payment.

However, I have been receiving significantly extra – more than £150 every payment. It is a consistent over-payment, and when the State Pension payment increased in 2024, the over-payment also increased, but by a lower %.

I believe this is not Additional State Pension as I am “too late”, but don’t know what it is. I have been saving the over-payments in case I need to pay them back!

(I have always lived and worked in England, if that makes a difference, suspect not.)

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

QrizB

What did your most recent State Pension statement say?

pinnks

It sounds like a "protected payment" meaning that upon transfer to the new rules on 6 April 2016 your transitional, or starting amount exceeded the new maximum because you had a big chunk of "additional pension" based on your pre-2016 history.  Like additional pension, protected payments increase by CPI, not the Triple Lock, so 1.7% from April.
  

Blue_Butterfly

If you are getting more than £221.20 weekly (£884.80 4 weekly), you probably have a "protected payment". These are part of the transition from the old to the new pension systems, so people keep rights they have already accrued. 

If someone had already accrued more than the full NSP when it started in 2016, they keep the extra as a protected payment but it doesn't increase except for Triple Lock and inflation increases on the PP.

If you are the widowed spouse of someone who reached SPA under the old system you can sometimes inherit a portion of their SERPs/SP2. This is individual according to the age of, and how much additional SP the deceased received. I have a widows PP and it is mentioned on my pension letters but its not on the first page. Also I'm just given the total amount, not a breakdown between the 2.

xylophone

Did you actually obtain a state pension forecast after 6/4/16? Or do you mean that you simply telephoned for confirmation of your NI record?

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81223380/#Comment_81223380

If you were 66 in 2023, the likelihood is that you started work in the mid seventies.

Unless you were a member of a contracted out pension scheme, you are likely to have accrued some Additional State Pension 

(SERPS) pre 2002 and even if contracted out, (if on a moderate income), between 2002 and 2016 (S2P). 

It is perfectly possible that your starting amount was higher than  a full NSP in 2016, that is to say higher than £155.65 a week.

If so, you will have a "protected payment".

Even under old state pension ,  it was perfectly possible for higher earners who had never contracted out to

receive  SP over double the basic rate because of the ASP accrued.

Below  is the introduction to the new scheme (dated around 2013).

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7a21fd40f0b66a2fc00201/single-tier-pension-fact-sheet.pdf

Ptarmigan127

Many thanks for the replies. It sounds like they are perhaps protected payments, but I am not sure how I got that position,

At least I now have a nice nest egg having saved them for more than 18 months!

xylophone

Many thanks for the replies. It sounds like they are perhaps protected payments, but I am not sure how I got that position,

Have you read the links in my post above? May help.

p00hsticks

You should be getting a letter from DWP early in each calendar year showing the increase in state Pension amount you can expect in April and documenting exactly how your state pension is made up. 

molerat

p00hsticks said:

You should be getting a letter from DWP early in each calendar year showing the increase in state Pension amount you can expect in April and documenting exactly how your state pension is made up. 

Seemingly, from other posts on the subject, the post 2016 pension increase letter does not provide a breakdown.