State Pension Question (Death of Husband)

edddd1

Hello. Not a nice subject, but my friend's father has regrettably passed away. Both his father and mother were retirement age, and receiving State Pensions. His was a lot more than his wife's, but on phoning the DWP State Pension people she was advised that hers would not change, nor could she get any Bereavement Benefit etc (as both getting State Pension when he passed away). Though his mum does work, the drop in the household income is considerable, but I can not find any confirmation of the fact that she is not now entitled to any increase. She would not be on a low enough income for Pension Credit etc.

One glimmer of hope I found was this webpage on the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/7233105.stm

Question 13 states "My husband and I are both drawing our state pensions. What will happen to my state pension if my husband dies before me?

The amount of your basic state pension would normally increase to the level he was receiving, if this was higher.

You may also be entitled to claim a share of his additional pension (formerly SERPS now called State Second Pension). The exact amount will depend on his date of birth and will be between 50%-100% of the amount he was receiving."

The guy answering is the The Pensions Advisory Service chief executive, Malcolm Mclean. Does he know something the DWP phone advisors don't?

Any help would be REALLY appreciated! Thanks in advance.

margaretclare

Hello

If he was receiving state pension 100% and his wife 60%, then she can receive 100% instead of 60%, based on his contributions.

SERPS/S2P can be inherited, but the percentage depends on year of birth (I think). Here's the definitive booklet on it: http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/serps/serpsl1jan08.pdf

It sounds as if he was getting SERPS when you say 'his was a lot more than hers'. The basic state pension is £87.30 at present and if his wife was getting a pension that would be 60% of £87.30 weekly. However some of us do get SERPS which can make the total amount a lot more, and this would happen if he'd never been contracted-out into an employer's pension scheme and if he'd had decent earnings in the years when it mattered.

If the man was born before 1937 his wife can inherit 100% of his SERPS. It works the other way too - he can inherit hers, assuming she wasn't contracted-out into an employer's pension scheme.

HTH

Margaret