How to find historic state pension start date

marinheiro

My partner became eligible for a state pension in 2014, but decided to defer. As far as our memory goes she deferred around three years. Now a government form (DT-Individual) needs us to specify the exact start date of her state pension, and we can't find it. HMRC will show us no records older than 2020, and we recently moved country and binned all our paperwork older than 5 years thinking we would never need it again. Does anyone know any way of getting historic information like this out of DWP/HMRC?

Thanks!

JGB1955

Presumably her start date for State Pension would be determined by her date of birth and  State Pension age timetable - GOV.UK

Marcon

Just put her date of birth in here and it'll confirm the day when she reached SPA: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age

eskbanker

Isn't the question here about the date on which OP's partner actually started taking the pension (after deferral), rather than the date she was first eligible to do so?

Brie

You could try asking the bank to look in their records and see if they can find the first payment in 2017.  Don't ask for a copy of a statement just the date.   Assuming the account is still open and active they should have the details going back a very long way.  

Marcon

eskbanker said:

Isn't the question here about the date on which OP's partner actually started taking the pension (after deferral), rather than the date she was first eligible to do so?

Ah - yes it is. Thank you!

Sorry OP, my post won't help.

marinheiro

Brie said:

You could try asking the bank to look in their records and see if they can find the first payment in 2017.  Don't ask for a copy of a statement just the date.   Assuming the account is still open and active they should have the details going back a very long way.  

I will try but think it is unlikely: the online records go back only to 2019, presumably to comply with the 6 year rule. It is HSBC, and I think they are unlikely to do me any favours...

eskbanker

marinheiro said:
I will try but think it is unlikely: the online records go back only to 2019, presumably to comply with the 6 year rule. It is HSBC, and I think they are unlikely to do me any favours...

There isn't a universal six year rule as such, so organisations can and do legitimately retain data for much more (and much less) than that, dependent on what it actually is and what it's needed for - the Data Protection Act isn't prescriptive about retention timescales and simply requires that organisation have policies appropriate to business requirements.

The DPA does mandate that everyone is entitled to copies of their personal data (they're not 'doing favours' by complying with legal obligations), so it's probably worth submitting formal Subject Access Requests to any of the organisations that you believe may hold such data relevant to your partner's circumstances, including DWP and/or HMRC as well as banks.

Marcon

You say HMRC will 'show you no records older than 5 years' but have you actually asked the direct question of them?

But...I wonder if it's actually that critical? There's space on the form at Part B.2 to add 'additional information' so maybe a note there saying you no longer have precise records but have given the approximate date when state pension started to be received? If DWP/HMRC have the information and think it's important they can correct it, but as you aren't going to get tax relief on tax you haven't paid, it might not matter too much.  Provided you have given an open statement that the date is an estimate, you can't be called out for failing to complete the form as fully and accurately as you can.

xylophone

Surely DWP have records to show when payment commenced?  Have you enquired of them?

marinheiro

Marcon said:

But...I wonder if it's actually that critical? There's space on the form at Part B.2 to add 'additional information' so maybe a note there saying you no longer have precise records but have given the approximate date when state pension started to be received? If DWP/HMRC have the information and think it's important they can correct it, but as you aren't going to get tax relief on tax you haven't paid, it might not matter too much.  Provided you have given an open statement that the date is an estimate, you can't be called out for failing to complete the form as fully and accurately as you can.

My thought too, if there is no easy way to get the information (I thought I might have missed somewhere it was shown on gov.uk) then leaving it open-ended with a comment explaining probably is enough, especially as they are asking me for info they know anyway