COPE - State Pension

CosmoChic

I checked my pension forecast online a few years ago.  It showed the projected pension, and also had a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

I just checked again today, and there is no longer a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

The optimist in me says:  YAY! You should expect the full amount!!

The realist says:  Where the heck can you now find this personalised figure??

Can anyone point me in the correct direction?

I don't expect to get much of a state pension as I was contracted out almost all of my working life, but it would be nice to know how much, or realistically how little, I will receive.

I'm female, 62 btw, and my NI record shows 'full year' contributions for 1978-1979 to 2024-2025 inclusive.

I was contracted out between 1987-2020.

Can anyone provide even a guesstimate?

TIA.  

Dazed_and_C0nfused

CosmoChic said:

I checked my pension forecast online a few years ago.  It showed the projected pension, and also had a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

I just checked again today, and there is no longer a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

The optimist in me says:  YAY! You should expect the full amount!!

The realist says:  Where the heck can you now find this personalised figure??

Can anyone point me in the correct direction?

I don't expect to get much of a state pension as I was contracted out almost all of my working life, but it would be nice to know how much, or realistically how little, I will receive.

I'm female, 62 btw, and my NI record shows 'full year' contributions for 1978-1979 to 2024-2025 inclusive.

I was contracted out between 1987-2020.

Can anyone provide even a guesstimate?

TIA.  

With the best part of 10 post 2016 years why don't you think you will attain the standard £230.25/week?

Have you actually read your forecast in full?  If you have then what does it say you accrued so far?

Can you explain how you were contracted out after April 2016?

p00hsticks

I think you are being unecessarily pessimistic and you'll get the full amount of new State Pension.
What does your forecast actually say ?

The COPE value was only really relevant when calculating your 'starting amount' when the new State Pension was introduced in 2016. Those with a relatively large COPE amount tended to end up with a starting amount calculated under the old rules rather than the new. 

As you had already accumulated over 30 years at that point your starting amount would have been at minimum the old basic pension amount (current'y £176.45) , and every full year since then has added 1/35th of the new State Pension amount (currently £230.25) to that until you hit the maximum. So with 9 full post-2016 years I reckon you should already be at the maximum amount which you cannot improve any more and your forecast should be saying that. 

To answer your actual question, I believe the COPE figure may still be accessible somewhere in your records,  but it caused so much confusion with people thinking it would be deducted from the forecast amount (it isn't) that they removed it from the forecast as no longer relevant. 

Marcon

CosmoChic said:

I checked my pension forecast online a few years ago.  It showed the projected pension, and also had a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

I just checked again today, and there is no longer a link to a personalised COPE deduction.

The optimist in me says:  YAY! You should expect the full amount!!

The realist says:  Where the heck can you now find this personalised figure??

Can anyone point me in the correct direction?

I don't expect to get much of a state pension as I was contracted out almost all of my working life, but it would be nice to know how much, or realistically how little, I will receive.

I'm female, 62 btw, and my NI record shows 'full year' contributions for 1978-1979 to 2024-2025 inclusive.

I was contracted out between 1987-2020.

Can anyone provide even a guesstimate?

TIA.  

The COPE figure has been removed because it was simply creating utter confusion. The figure you saw a few years ago (when the COPE was shown) already took the COPE into account - ditto the figure you are seeing now. So reading your statement (carefully!) and noting any comments about whether it assumes you will continue to contribute further years of NI until State Pension Age will give you your answer.

Contracting out (which ended in 2016) didn't impact on your entitlement to the basic state pension, and as you've got full years from 1978/79 to 2024/25, you're likely to get a full 'new state pension' or pretty close to it.

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-13949447/COPE-state-pension-statements.html for more info - you are far from alone in your bewilderment at the mysteries of COPE and state pensions...

CosmoChic

Sorry, I'm like the dunce of the Pension Class!

I didn't realise it was not possible to contract out after 2016.  So, I guess, that means when eligible for State Pension I will have 13 years post 2016 contributions, plus 9 years prior to joining a workplace pension?

I'm not sure where to find a full forecast.  As I said, when I checked previously there was a link to a personalised COPE amount.  I can no longer see anything personalised on the Forecast Page??

This is what the Pension Forecast on Gov.uk says for me, along with a sentence confirming I was, like most people, contracted out:

You can get your State Pension on ?? October 2029

Your forecast is £230.25 a week, £1,001.18 a month, £12,014.12 a year

Thanks for any input you can make.  

molerat

If you really want to see the COPE amount then click here https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/cope whilst logged into your tax account.  It is exactly the same amount as it was last time you looked.  It was only ever used in calculating your 2016 starting amount and was only of any use in deciding if pre 2016 gaps were worth filling but, except in a few cases, those are no longer available anyway.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

CosmoChic said:

Sorry, I'm like the dunce of the Pension Class!

I didn't realise it was not possible to contract out after 2016.  So, I guess, that means when eligible for State Pension I will have 13 years post 2016 contributions, plus 9 years prior to joining a workplace pension?

I'm not sure where to find a full forecast.  As I said, when I checked previously there was a link to a personalised COPE amount.  I can no longer see anything personalised on the Forecast Page??

This is what the Pension Forecast on Gov.uk says for me, along with a sentence confirming I was, like most people, contracted out:

You can get your State Pension on ?? October 2029

Your forecast is £230.25 a week, £1,001.18 a month, £12,014.12 a year

Thanks for any input you can make.  

What does it say underneath that?

CosmoChic

@Dazed_and_C0nfused it says like most people I was contracted out.

@molerat thank you for that link.  It does say exactly what it said before!

@marcon and @p00hsticks thank you so much for your very informative responses!!

You are all absolute stars.  Again, thank you all 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

CosmoChic said:

@Dazed_and_C0nfused it says like most people I was contracted out.

@molerat thank you for that link.  It does say exactly what it said before!

@marcon and @p00hsticks thank you so much for your very informative responses!!

You are all absolute stars.  Again, thank you all 

What about the amount of State Pension you have actually accrued though?

You seem to be expecting a low amount.  Which, from what you have posted, is highly unlikely 

Marcon

CosmoChic said:

You can get your State Pension on ?? October 2029

Your forecast is £230.25 a week, £1,001.18 a month, £12,014.12 a year

...£230.25 is the full new state pension...

CosmoChic

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

CosmoChic said:

@Dazed_and_C0nfused it says like most people I was contracted out.

@molerat thank you for that link.  It does say exactly what it said before!

@marcon and @p00hsticks thank you so much for your very informative responses!!

You are all absolute stars.  Again, thank you all 

What about the amount of State Pension you have actually accrued though?

You seem to be expecting a low amount.  Which, from what you have posted, is highly unlikely 

I'm definitely a dunce on this .... I don't know where to find the amount accrued .... is it on the Gov.uk site?

Sorry for being such a dullard!