Private pension and pension credit.

Hamish2017

I've just discovered I have a private pension sum.  (I had a brain injury several years ago and have no memory of this private pension)
My husband & I receive guaranteed pension credit. He's older than me, I'll be 60 in November, but stopped working several years ago due to the affects of my brain injury and other physical injuries.
My concern is that I don't get my state pension until 67 &  if we stop being entitled to pension credit the rules have changed and we wouldn't be able to get the joint pension credit again until after I'm 67 & the private pension is small& not enough to live on.
So I need advice on the best way to proceed. 
1) Is this private pension classed as savings? And does that affect the pension credit?
2) Should I defer payment of this pension until I'm 67?
3) How do we manage this private pension so we get the best benefit from it?
Huge thanks for any help with this.

Brie

1
Is this a huge amount?  According to the CAP website if the total amount is below £10k while that would be considered savings it shouldn't affect the Pension Credit.  If it's over £10k the PC is reduced but not necessarily stopped.

What is Pension Credit? | CAP UK

Likewise the gov.uk  website seems to make it clear that a private pension (which is an investment) is considered part of your household savings.  

Pension Credit: Eligibility - GOV.UK

The crucial thing is that you need to report this if it hasn't been included in the household calculations previously.  It's possible that the government will require some money to be repaid if the pension amount means your savings exceed £10k.  If you think this might happen I would suggest you get an outline from the pension administrators to show how much the pension has been worth since the PC started to be paid as that might lessen the amount they need to recoup.

2
Check to see how much the pension would pay you on a  weekly basis (the payment will likely be monthly but you'll just need to calculate pension££ x 12/52 to get the weekly amount).  If this is going to mean no PC will be paid then I would consider delaying receiving anything until as late as possible.

3
Is there any way you could use it for acceptable improvements to your home or a similar type of spend?  When you do decide to access the money you might consider good ways to spend it so that the impact on PC is minimised.

p00hsticks

Is this a Defined Benefit pension and if so what is the 'normal retirement age' (NRA) associated with this pension ? Sometimes it's the same as State Pension Age, but if it's an old pension then it could be as low as 60. 
  
My understanding is that for means tested benefits DWP ignore pensions until the person reaches either the NRA for the Pension scheme (if a DB scheme) or State Pension Age, whichever is sooner, but if you are not even 60 yet it's unlikely to have any impact before then at the earliest, so there wont be anything already paid to recoup. . 

I don't believe @Brie is correct is saying that you could just delay claiming anything past retirement age - once past the NRA DWP will need to be informed and will assume that you are starting to claim it whether or not you do. 

sheramber

Hamish2017 said:

I've just discovered I have a private pension sum.  (I had a brain injury several years ago and have no memory of this private pension)
My husband & I receive guaranteed pension credit. He's older than me, I'll be 60 in November, but stopped working several years ago due to the affects of my brain injury and other physical injuries.
My concern is that I don't get my state pension until 67 &  if we stop being entitled to pension credit the rules have changed and we wouldn't be able to get the joint pension credit again until after I'm 67 & the private pension is small& not enough to live on.
So I need advice on the best way to proceed. 
1) Is this private pension classed as savings? And does that affect the pension credit?
2) Should I defer payment of this pension until I'm 67?
3) How do we manage this private pension so we get the best benefit from it?
Huge thanks for any help with this.

You say the private epnsion is not enough to live on but  does your husband not get any state pension payment?

Is this pension payable from when you become 60 in November?

If you defer it you will be assessed as reciveing the weekly/monthly amount that you would receive so there is no benefit in deferring it.