Well at least I feel progress has been made. Having downloaded and filled out the 26 page claim form for UK State Pension some weeks ago I finally visited Davao City Hall to secure the Certified Copies of the key documents. Last Monday I sent the package via PhilPost EMS to the International Pension Centre mail handling site. I had made a number of telephone calls for advice on the form as I felt it really didn't reflect my situation. Anyway I went ahead and filed. I noticed today that the package has been 'Handed Over' so it's just a waiting game to know when I can get my money. During one of my telephone calls I was informed that the DWP International Pension Centre has encountered an unexpected and significant increase in claims. The upshot is that there is a backlog of claims resulting in a 3-4 month processing time from date of receipt of completed claim forms. It was quite a task to list all my previous UK addresses, UK employment and overseas employment togther with dates etc Luckily I had recorded and scanned virtually all the needed details and had brought with me all those important documents. Thank goodness for technology and flash drives. How exciting. After many years of contributions I'm still around to start collecting. So now I just wait.
Even my friend here in the UK ended up with a delay in receiving his state pension last year, I find that unbelievable and unforgivable to be honest. In my mates case he didn't really need it as he still works a few days a month and had plenty of other resources but it is still ridiculous that they kept him waiting. As a side note, as a man who never 'contracted out' he ended up with a state pension worth over 210 pounds a week as a result of state second pension, SERPS and graduated pension.
Apparently I will be entitled to £155 per week.......... Next year. Will have to keep on working, tho.............. Bummer..................
Ah, you're one of those lucky folks who will receive the new, simplified 'Flat Rate' pension. Did you discover your pension estimate through the government gateway State Pension Statement based on your National Insurance contribution record ?
Yes, I do agree. Not just because I'm now personally involved. But also because it's hardly a random surprise event to have a pension processed at a time when a person reaches a certain age.
He did well oss. I think that's a pretty good pension amount actually. Especially since the current Basic State Pension alone without any top-up/add-on is only £115.95 per week. I've no idea really how it all gets calculated after next April. I won't be impacted, but my wife will as she is eligible for a UK State Pension. That was one of the major contributing factors to stay in the UK after my father passed away.
Yup........... Phoned them up, they asked a few questions, and then 10 days later they sent me the answer by mail. So it is in black and white on paper..
Luckily I was able to top-up enough 'missing years' in my contribution history at good price. Under the 'old' rules I just needed 30 years contributions to receive a full pension. The new pension I think requires 35 years contributions, so I'd have needed a substantial uplift if I'd been 6 months older
the existing state pension is a law unto itself. i got mine at 65--in feb 2013. currently i get a total of £158.52 with the various " extras". far more than i thought i'd get--considering years of self employment / non-employment. my NI history was a real mystery. i also get £7-50 pension savings credit. this was a notional amount awarded in feb 013 based on savings i declared at the time. in place for 5 years from then. it is not means tested. each year as the state pension has increased--this amount reduces by about the same amount. so--my total net income is about £700 a month---which i can live on very comfortably. my rent and Ctax comes from another source. like many others i await the new flat rate pension with mild trepidation---if i get any more i will be very surprised. off topic--i know several women who have been royally screwed by the current changes in age eligibility. my ex wife got hers at 62 & a half---a friend is 60 now and has to wait till 66. another is 62 and still waiting. each has had several thousands of ££ stolen from them.
As far as I understand it the new pension won't affect us at all. We'll remain locked in under the old rules.
If you remain UK-based, I believe the government will top up your state pension with Pension Credit, or whatever benefit is appropriate...to new minimum of approx. £155 per week...for those men born after April 1951, such as myself.
I have 39 years contributions (I started early) I am due currently about 140 a week under the old rules as I had a couple of spells where I was contracted out, I already qualify for the new pension under the new rules and suspect that my 25 a week extra that I earned through SERPS, S2P and a couple of years of Graduated Pension contributions will simply vanish and that I will be on the £150 ish of the new pension as I still have 9.5 years to go.
I'm pretty sure that the flat rate won't affect you as you are an existing pensioner. And yeah the women got the worst deal, 66 represents a loss of up to 48,000 perhaps more if the lady had accrued a lot of SERPS and S2P, right royally screwed
Yeah, he's currently wintering on the east coast of Spain in a huge villa with pool and a couple of thousand square metres of orange grove as a garden, he just sent me a video of the place as he wants me over there so he can drag me up the mountains to make me healthier I've been over before, different villa he rented that time, and the place is stunning, the mountains put me off a bit but sometimes it is worth it for the photography. Last villa The scenery
I can't see any government re-jigging the state pension scheme to give (ever-increasing numbers of) pensioners MORE money.
Exactly. They claimed that the new system was a simplification, however they won't get the benefit of that 'simplification' for at least 40 years as during the rest of that time they wil have to run highly complex assessments based on transitions from the old rules to the new rules. If your old rules total is greater than the flat rate you are supposed to get a top up, if less then you may end up with less than the new flat rate, qualifying years accrue up to 35 but not beyond (I think) so for those like me who have accrued more than that already, additional years of contributions are doing nothing for their pension. Additional years accrued after flat rate starts in 2016 will result in increased pension for those who have not qualified for the full pension yet but it could still be less than flat rate. The whole thing is a programming/systems mess so complex that they will be able to pull numbers out of the air and you would never know better.
You may want to think about putting your savings into an insurance-backed Investment Bond. Savings in such an Investment Bond cannot be included in any calculation of entitlement to income-related benefits, unless they determined you put the money in the Investment Bond to qualify for those benefits. I also have investments in a SIPP - I declared that when I made a claim for Pension Credit but they ignored those savings too.
As I hit 65 in March 2016, I will retire under the old rules - that means any accrued SERPS, S2P and graduated pension will still be paid. When I last checked my State Pension forecast, I will get less than if I had qualified under the new rules. That means I would still be entitled to Pension Credit to top up the value of the State Pension to the same value as under the new rules. As Pension Credit is a 'passport benefit' that would mean I will actually be better off than if I was born 3 weeks later.
