State and private pensions have gone up, but I'm worse off

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976965#Comment_81976965

I hadn't noticed that, but haven't gone back through the thread post by post - if that is an accidental side-effect then it doesn't seem particularly logical, but many do seem to find tax baffling!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976976#Comment_81976976

Point taken about actual payments perhaps being closer to the taxable entitlement if paid more regularly but they presumably still don't align exactly, given the fact that a year isn't a round number of weeks?

xylophone

I just had a quick check on a calculator on the number of Mondays (pensioner 1, paid weekly in advance) for the tax year 2025/26 - there were 52.

There were 52 Tuesdays (pensioner 2, paid weekly in arrears).

ClashCityRocker1

in 2026/27 there are 53 Mondays including 06/04/2026 and 05/04/2027

all the other days have 52

ClashCityRocker1

I have my State pension paid weekly (my day is Wednesday).

It depends how your finances are set up but my monthly pensions/wage covers all my bills etc and every week I get a nice chunlkof discretionary spending. And Wednesday comes around worryingly fast each week!

plumb1_2

out of curiosity can you still have a pension book and withdraw from the post office

xylophone

I think that the pension book has long gone.

A quick google comes up with the information about an arrangement known as the payment exception service.

The payment exception service is a way for people who are unable to open or manage bank accounts to collect their benefit or pension payments. These payments are issued as vouchers via the i-movo voucher service and can be cashed at any Post Office branch.

How does it work?

Those eligible for this service may be sent a payment card or will receive vouchers either by email (as PDFs) or by SMS text message.

mrklaw

I’d like to have the option to be paid monthly 🤷‍♂️

Sarahspangles

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977973#Comment_81977973

When my dad was shielding in the early months of the pandemic, he used to ask me to go to the local post office to transfer money from his pension account to his current account, and withdraw some cash. He did almost everything online but thought this was going to keep local post offices open!

plumb1_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978477#Comment_81978477

I always withdraw cash every week to use at the local shop/ supplier, barbershop,paper shop, chippy, window cleaner, coffee shop( no multi national). And most importantly the local pub.