Wife's pension found - but what to do?

kaMelo

Two things need to be confirmed before any meaningful advice can be given.

Is it a defined benefit or defined contribution pension scheme.

If DB, what is the normal pension age of the scheme.

TELLIT01

As others have said, taking the pension as monthly payments would be utter pointless as it is deducted from UC pound for pound.  If your wife would receive around £5k per year as a pension I'm assuming the pot must be reasonably substantial.  Lump sum payment which results in between £6k and £16k in savings would reduce UC entitlement.  Lump sum payment which results in savings of £16k or above would end entitlement to UC.

The lump sum can be used to clear debts and to purchase essentials for the home.

jibblyjabbly

This may sound like a dumb question but is it even necessary to transfer it? Can it not be left alone until my wife reaches state retirement age?

best wishes

R

kaMelo

jibblyjabbly said:

This may sound like a dumb question but is it even necessary to transfer it? Can it not be left alone until my wife reaches state retirement age?

best wishes

R

It will depend upon the pension. If  defined contribution then yes, essentially she has a pot of money and can do with it as she wishes.

If, as I suspect given what you have said, it is a defined benefit pension then the scheme rules will dictate what happens. Particularly important is the normal pension age of the scheme, is it possible to defer beyond that age and if so, what happens to the pension in deferment.

jibblyjabbly

We did not know she had this pension. Suddenly were contacted by DWP telling us Lloyds were looking for my wife regarding this pension. After contacting them and providing up to date details (married name and new address) we are suddenly told my wife's retirement date is coming up soon and we have to make three choices. One, take a lum sum and a pension. Two, take a regular pension. Three. transfer the pension. It doesn't seem that deferment is on the table. But we'll speak to them today and see if it can be done.

warm regards
R

jibblyjabbly

Sorry I should add that we suspected this pension existed but just never got round to looking for it. Then it just found us out of the blue. Thanks for the advice so far.

best wishes

R

jibblyjabbly

We get Universal Credit. Would it be classed as depravation of wealth if we transfer it instead of taking it? So far it seems the least stressful thing to do is just take it now and have DWP take it back as unearned income. We can't use a lump sum for anything except to give to our son, which we cannot do because of the depravation rules.

DE_612183

jibblyjabbly said:

We get Universal Credit. Would it be classed as depravation of wealth if we transfer it instead of taking it? So far it seems the least stressful thing to do is just take it now and have DWP take it back as unearned income. We can't use a lump sum for anything except to give to our son, which we cannot do because of the depravation rules.

I would not have thought so - you're just moving it from one pension to another - the cash won't actually touch your back accounts either and as far as I was aware pensions ( unlike savings ) are outside of the scope of UC.

As you say, if you take the lump sum it will just stop your UC anyway.

sammyjammy

See if you can navigate around their website, there should be info about what type of pension it is and if she can deferred beyond NPA of the scheme.  As  I suggested before I would cross post on Pensions, they'll be very helpful.

Home | Lloyds Banking Group Pensions

TELLIT01

jibblyjabbly said:

We get Universal Credit. Would it be classed as depravation of wealth if we transfer it instead of taking it? So far it seems the least stressful thing to do is just take it now and have DWP take it back as unearned income. We can't use a lump sum for anything except to give to our son, which we cannot do because of the depravation rules.

You can use that lump sum, or part of it, for any necessary repairs and maintenance for the property, replacing worn out items such as carpets, 'white goods' etc.