Can anyone help? I am very lucky in that whilst browsing the news recently I saw about 2015 pension changes and that from next April (I will be 58) I can take any pension as a lump sum and not buy an annuity unless I want to. I had forgotten all about some pensions I started in the 1970's and have had a good dig around and am very happy that I have a 'forgotten'; pension pot of over £90,000 in two RAC's. I do not need to generate an income for my old age as I have some property investments which provide an adequate living. My questions are Will I be able to do what I think I can do even though RACs were originally set to a retirement age of 60? From what I've seen 25% of any pot is tax free and the balance is at marginal tax rate - mine is currently 20% - but let's say my income at present is £25000, if I took EVERYTHING out at once then I could get £22500 tax free and pay 20% tax on the £67500? Or would I need to draw it out bit by bit to keep it under the 40% tax rate in any one year? I'm sure these questions will bring up others I haven't considered, and hopefully this is in the correct part of the site, if not, mods please move! Thanks in advance for all help. Bob

My 80 year old dad has had a letter from the pension credit people asking questions about personal pensions he receives. He receives £12 ish pension credit a week and a personal pension of £50 a month from a previous employer, who we don't know. The problem we are having is that dad has Alzheimers and vascular dementia and can't answer the questions on the 12 page form he has received. They are saying if he doesn't fill in the forms they will stop the credits. we are worried they may stop them anyway as he is in receipt of £50 a month that he hasn't declared. Are they going to make him pay back the credits? We have no idea how long he has been getting the work based pension and nor does he. Please help as dad is very confused and upset by all this and has had phone calls from the DWP demanding he fill in the forms.

PENSION DISPUTE WITH CLERICAL MEDICAL (PART OF THE LLOYDS TSB GROUP) AND THE HANDLING OF THE COMPLAINT BY THE FOS AND FCA In 1993 I transferred my final salary scheme fund to a pension fund with Clerical Medical (CM), a Lloyds affiliate, under a Section 32 Buyout Plan. I had been provided with a ‘Product Guide’ by CM with a BSI kitemark on the cover which stated- ‘CLARITY APPROVED BY PLAIN ENGLISH CAMPAIGN’. The relevant clause in the ‘Product Guide’ stated:- ‘If the transfer payment comes from a scheme which was contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) where a ‘Guaranteed Minimum Pension’ (GMP) was to be provided, then you will have to invest enough money in the With-Profits Fund for us to provide this guarantee. However, once you have provided for the GMP, you can invest the remaining amount in our Account, in the funds of your choice.’ On that basis I signed a Contract which stated:- ‘I request that any amount not required to provide GMP and any other fixed benefits is applied to the investment funds as shown below:-’ Clerical Medical’s acceptance of the fund was under a Section 32 Buyout Plan, which according to subsequent legal advice I received, was subject to Government regulations under British law:- ‘I must confirm at the outset that your Clerical Medical pension is not a personal pension, but a Section 32 Buyout Plan. Although this plan is not a final salary scheme, the pension funds held in this plan are the result of a transfer from an old occupational scheme as you note in your letter. A portion of the fund is made up of contacted-out benefits from that employment, known as Guaranteed Minimum Pension or GMP. As the name implies, GMP guarantees to pay you a certain level of pension income in respect of the contracted-out portion of your pension funds.’ All very clear, plain, straightforward and simple. However, when I retired, CM insisted that a further document which had only been available on an ‘on-request’ basis totally contradicted the issued documents and the contract I signed in good faith, and maintained that they could use the ‘Investment Funds’ to supplement the payment of the GMP, resulting in a significant financial loss. According to the above legal advice the only term at the discretion of CM was to quantify and define that portion of the fund containing the ‘contracted-out portion’, and on that basis CM had no legal right to use the other portion of the fund to supplement the payment of a GMP; I understand that non-compliance with Government regulations under British law would be classed as a criminal offence. The FOS ‘decision’ upheld CM’s view yet, based upon the above legal advice, the FOS in my opinion appear to be condoning a criminal offence. According to the FOS:- ‘…our ombudsmen have a statutory duty to reach a decision they consider to be fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.’ The FOS Independent Assessor also stated that:- ‘… whilst Ombudsmen have to take account of the law they are not bound by it.’ In my opinion I find it difficult to believe that ombudsmen have the authority to allow a firm to commit what appears to be a criminal offence and how such an offence can be considered to be ‘fair and reasonable’! The actual statement by the former ‘Economic Secretary at HM Treasury’ was:- ‘Accordingly the Ombudsman is not required to follow the approach which a court might take to evidential matters although he must “take into account the relevant law”.’ If you take the law into account then surely there is only one option – you must abide by it. The FOS subsequently sought legal advice at the insistence of my former MP but refused to provide a copy of Counsel’s assessment claiming legal privilege; I finally acquired a copy after 3 years under threat of the FOI Act. On receipt of Counsel’s assessment I complained that the FOS had misled and misinformed Counsel and did not provide him with a copy of the ‘Product Guide’, but the FOS refuse to comment. The assessment stated that:- ‘Naturally, if my instructing Solicitor has any queries arising out of this Opinion, seeks advice on any other aspects of Mr …..’s complaints or wishes to discuss the matter, she should not hesitate to contact me in Chambers , by telephone or email’. The assessment also stated that:- The FOS ‘General Counsel’s Department’ were ‘Solicitors for the Intended Claimant’. Yet I was never consulted, and my requests that a corrected assessment should be obtained where I am fully represented and allowed to ensure my evidence is taken into consideration have been continually rejected. The FOS website clearly states that:- ‘As in any organisation, things can sometimes go wrong, if this happens, we want to know about it, so we can try to put things right.’ Yet when my current MP raised my concerns with the FOS, the Chief Ombudsman simply refused to provide answers because he maintained that their final decision ‘…marks the end of our complaints handling process’. My MP stated:- ‘As your Member of Parliament I can ask the regulatory authorities to review how they have handled a case and reconsider if the correct outcome has been reached. I am not in a position, nor should I be, to insist or force the authority to come to a different decision’. Surely an MP has every right to insist that a Government agency responsible to Parliament review their ‘decision’, particularly if there is evidence that they may be condoning a criminal offence. The response from the ‘Chair’ of the Public Accounts Committee was that they are ‘precluded from investigating individual cases’ despite the fact that between 2010 and 2012 there were 3,771 complaints against CM related solely to ‘Decumulation, life and pensions’. Furthermore, when I retired CM refused to allow access to my pension fund unless I signed a disclaimer absolving CM from all future claims, which also caused both considerable financial loss and significant stress. I was obviously not prepared to sign a disclaimer under the above conditions as I was still attempting to pursue my complaint via my MP, the FOS, the FCA and other routes. The FCA subsequently issued a directive which declared that the contract was unfair and instructed CM to remove the disclaimer clause, but CM again refused to compensate for the loss of income and unnecessary stress. The ‘decision’ by the FOS, who must follow FCA regulations, was that it was my fault because it was ‘fair and reasonable’ for a consumer to sign a disclaimer which the FCA had declared was ‘unfair’! The ludicrous part is that had I previously signed a disclaimer I would have been unable to raise this complaint! Complaints to the FCA are rejected because they do not consider pre 1995 contracts even though they inherited the role of earlier regulators, and because it is considered to be an ‘individual’ complaint. Yet the FCA website showed that between 2010, when CM ceased selling new policies, and 2012 there have been 3,771 complaints against CM related solely to ‘Decumulation, life and pensions’, Also, according to the FCA:- ‘The FCA’s Supervisory activity focuses primarily on the manner in which and the extent to which firms it supervises are acting in accordance with the provisions of the relevant handbook, rather than the application of “British Law”.’ Yet again it would appear that an agency appointed by the British Government does not have to apply British Law! The usual trite comment is that an individual pensioner can always take legal action against a financial conglomerate although, of course, they are fully aware of the fact that it is way beyond the means of most pensioners, and no individual within the Lloyds TSB group will be personally financially liable. Has anyone else had similar problems as in my opinion the whole episode has been little short of disgraceful.

Hi, my mother had to sever all ties with her partner this weekend. Financially this could be difficult due to her only getting £400 a month pension. She is 63. How does she claim for anything extra if possible. She is techno phobe so doesn't use computers. She isn't married to him. And owns her house. He is no longer allowed in the house. So as a single pensioner, what can she claim please.

Hello All, During my employment starting Sept-2013, the employer did not pay me any pension for the first five months. After searching through on internet, I believe that as per pension legislation, the employers should have made a minimum contribution of 1%, with a matching 0.8% (+ 0.2%) contribution coming from my salary. They did start paying the minimum pension, but only from Feb-2014. In fact the HR called me in Jan-14 and told me that they would start paying 1% from Feb-2014, since government has brought in some new Pension rules to be effective from Feb-2014. Were they right in not giving me any pension for good five months? And if not what can I do now? Thanks for your advice. FYI, My salary range bracket was 45-50k.

My late husband left me two pensions. One with Aviva and another with Standard Life. The terms of the Aviva pension was that 3 years after his death it would reduce by 1/3rd so I was getting £202 per month which has now reduced to £137 per month (wow!) The Standard Life pension was a much smaller one, only £75 per month (even bigger wow!). The Standard Life pension is paid on the 1st of the month. When I checked my bank account I got the shock of my life to find it had been slashed in half to £38 a month. They haven't even bothered writing to me to inform me they were doing this. I phoned them to be told by the young man on the end of the phone that they had written to me informing me that this would happen. When I asked him when they'd written as I hadn't received any letter yet, he said "We wrote to you on the 6th June 2011" That was almost 3 1/2 years ago and the week after my husband died. Sorry, but when you've just lost your spouse, as anyone who has gone through the same thing will tell you, you do not take in anything like that. Everything is surreal for quite some time after. So, this year I have lost £102 per month in pensions, money I can ill afford to lose, especially as recently I lost my job (company went bust) so had no other income apart from these pensions. Because of these pensions I would only have qualified for £5 JSA so didn't bother claiming it as it would have cost me more to travel into town to sign on than it was worth. I did start a new job on Monday so that is good. The Aviva pension, if I'm lucky goes up by 1% per year, the Standard Life pension by even less. I know my late husband paid a lot into these pensions but I feel both these pensions are an absolute rip-off. As far as I'm aware, the "deal" he signed up to ties me to these companies. I am sure I'd get a better return by shopping around elsewhere but I don't think I can even do this. I know the T&Cs on the Aviva one says "non transferrable". Really, these pensions are more trouble than they're worth. What makes it harder to budget is one comes in on the 1st of the month, the other on the 20th. Does anyone know if it would be possible to dump Aviva and Standard Life and roll the two pensions into one with another company? Or, perhaps someone on here might have a better suggestion as to what to do with them? And yes, I am ranting a bit about it as I think it's so unfair that widows are being penalised like this so thank you for reading.

My wife currently gets Additional State Pension on top of her State Pension because she made extra contributions before she retired in 2011. When the new State Pension comes into effect in 2016 it will be at the new rate of £148 for everyone. Will she still get Additional State pension on top of the £148? Or will the £148 be the maximum she will get? It will be unfair and a complete waste of time her making extra contributions if she doesn't get extra!

I am not sure if this is the correct place on this site for queries about the State Pension but could see no mention of pensions anywhere so someone might point me to another section. This is a little complicated but here goes. I was on ESA back in 2010, got put in support group for 6 months (letter appeared 2 weeks before my appeal hearing) but then 4 months later I had to start the process again with another E50 (?) form to fill in and new ATOS medical. Of course I failed the medical and lodged an appeal immediately in I think June of 2011 - it took some time to get the ATOS appoinment. My appeal took even longer, although then you still received the basic ESA of around £70 per week while awaiting appeal. I believe now this is not the case and you have to go on JSA until the appeal is heard, something I could not cope with. I finally got the appeal hearing in October 2012 which I failed and my benefit was immediately stopped. Due to my health issues (mental health) I find it impossible to face going into the Job Centre to register for JSA. I had to give up my flat and stay with various friends around the country. In 2013 I managed with some difficulty to find work, through an agency which was very irregular, only 4 shifts in two months, while I was staying with a friend. I then found a permanent position but only lasted 8 weeks as it was more than I could cope with. Faced with the prospect of not having any income until my state pension in 2020 (I am one of the unlucky ones who has to wait until I am 66) I took my modest savings (under the limit for claiming benefits) and came to live in Turkey, where I can manage on just £30 per week for everything! However I am not sure my savings are going to last another 6 years, even here prices go up. what are the criteria for receiving the state pension early (although technically not early as all my working life I thought I would be claiming it this week when I turn 60!) on health grounds? I know if you are terminally ill you can get it sooner but how do they class terminal illness? My condition is permanent and although I have repeatedly tried to work during the past it does not last long before I am again unable to do so. I cannot cope with going into the Job Centre to answer their questions and fill in their forms. I am not comfortable around people which is why I cannot last long in jobs. I know this sounds like a feeble excuse but I can assure you it is a very real problem. Receiving my pension early would relieve all the stress of having to come back to the UK and try to sign on for JSA or try (and fail again) to claim ESA and then try to find a flat and live on £71 per week, which as everyone knows is incredibly difficult. Is there anyone on here that can point me in the direction of who to contact for answers to this question? Many thanks for reading.

Hello I have a occupational pension which I take out annually but the DWP then break it down into an income...the occ pension runs from October to October and I desperately need to take out this years one 2013 - 2014 before the cut off date on october the 3rd next week!! but Im very worried that the DWP and housing benefits will regard it as an income from the april to next april rather than and income from this october 13 - 14 and I will owe them loads of money for overpayments from april this year...I know it sounds confusing and no one seems to be able to answer my query can anybody help, Thanks .

Today went into my account to transfer money and only my state pension and no pension credit payment. Short or missing about £44 which creates a little problem. I contacted the pension people who said that they would send an email to the relevant department which would take 24 hours for them to action. It would then take another 4 - 5 days for the payment to be re-instated! They seem to do this on a regular basis and without any warning and it does create problems for us as we are both on pension. Not sure if there is anything we could do to make sure we are paid on the correct day as confirmed in a letter received 10 days ago! Very annoying!

Hi Was wondering if anyone out their could shed any Light on this please Family friends Husband has had to go into a nursing home so the council have informed her that she should apply for pension credits. When she rang them they asked for her savings details which she gave and then they advised that she would be be entitled to some pension credits but before they could process the application that she needed the last 3 months statements in front of her and has 30 days in which to get them for the 3 accounts appertaining to here savings She then asked would she not be better off sending them a copy, to which they stated no so long as she had them in front of her when she rang back then that would suffice and it is only under certain circumstances were they may ask you for a copy of them. Which begs the question how do they know if people are telling the truth or not as regards their savings if you don't need to send them a copy of your statements or do they have access and the authority to get this information. Tinks

Does anyone know when they update the system for the qualifying years. noticed my online statment last year was updated sep 3rd last year but has not been updated this year yet. was sanction by jcp but was overturned on appeal late last year so stamp should still have been credited for the four weeks

Lucky me I shall reach the State Pension Age (65) in a few months, and I would appreciate some thoughts on the best way to proceed 1. I currently receive Guaranteed Pension Credit and I have a part time job plus a small works pension 2. I don't intend to stop work at 65 (it would drive me crazy) So, anticipating the soon to arrive bumf from HMG whatis the best course to follw? Defer taking state pension and continue with GPC until such time as I do stop work or?? Any thoughts gratefully received

Can anyone help me with some advice? I have just been awarded a 30% war pension at £51 a week. I also receive the support allowance from the DWP. Will the DWP take most of my war pension of me as they might class it as earnings? Does anyone here have any experience in this matter? Thank you in advance.

Some advice please. If I defer my state pension what is the income tax situation when I finally draw it out? Do HMRC assume that it is income earned in that one tax year that I draw it out or would the lump sum be spread over the number of years I deferred it for? Thank you.

After my late husband died, I got his pension which is through Aviva. It was only a small pension of £202 per month. The terms of the pension were that after 3 years of his death, the pension would reduce by 1/3rd which now makes it £137 a month - hardly an amount to get excited about. On average it's increased by 1% - 2% every year so it would take at least another 20+ years to get back up to £202. Typical of Aviva, I find out that they'd reduced it on checking my bank account. They sent the letter informing me of this a few days later. They state the reason for the reduction as: "Your payments are changing because policy number XXXXXX goes up each year as part of the policy conditions." Umm at most 2%? They're having a laugh. I'm sure I could get a better deal elsewhere but think my late husband has tied this up so I can't change it. I also think he got bad financial advice at the time (2004 when he cashed part of the pension in early due to him having a major heart attack and being unable to work). Does anyone know if I can do anything about this and if so what? Thanks in advance everyone.

Hello all, Hope you can help with this: I have a very old pension scheme with B Elliot UK (from my first job back in the late 90's) and I'm looking for more details about it. As far as I know, the funds were being managed by sbj benefit consultants, however the last letter I received from them was 29 April 2008. Since then the contact numbers are no longer in use. I am keen to find out what has happened to this money, if it still exists, and what options I have in claiming it / transferring it etc All help is welcome. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I have some questions that I could do with some advice on if you good people would take the time to read the following. A bit of background first. I have had severe agoraphobia for the past 20 years and am currently on ESA in the support group. I was initially put in WRAG but appealed and won the tribunal that was held in my home. DWP were not contesting that I had agoraphobia just the degree to which it affected my daily life. My retirement age is 66 but I have a private pension that will start paying out later this year. It's not a huge amount and I do understand that it will be deducted from my ESA, which I have no problem with at all. I'm trying to mitigate possible future problems to try and ease the anxiety I constantly feel about future assessments in case I'm put back into the WRAG group. I would not be able to attend any WFI's but DWP might insist and then sanction me. So the question is, can they sanction my pension? i.e I believe as things are now they can remove the personal allowance part of WRAG as a sanction but not the WRAG component. That would leave me with £28.75 WRAG component plus my pension which would give me a weekly amount a few pounds short of the £72.40 that the law says you need to live on. Does anyone know what would happen given this scenario? Could they take my private pension as well and leave me just the £28.75? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I decided to take early retirement in 1999 when I was unable to continue work in a rather demanding job because of ill health and have been in receipt of a company pension since that time. I have recently been told by the new administrators of my pension that part of my pension was a bridging pension that should have ended when I reached 65 in 2012 and consequently my pension has been reduced. I cannot recall agreeing to the bridging pension and do not believe I would have as the benefits are outweighed by the disadvantages. (I don’t need to go into too much detail but in short, for ever £1 extra I received prior to age 65, I now loose £4). I have asked the company to provide documentary evidence of my agreement to the bridging pension but all they have sent is an unsigned quotation from the previous administrators. My question is what should I do now? I took a lower paid job in 1999 until I reached state retirement age however if I had been aware of this predicament, I would have elected to continue working for a few more years. I am not trying to wriggle out of any agreement I may have signed (time and memory plays tricks) but money is tight now and I don’t want to just roll over and accept what they say.

Anyone know if payments due on Easter Monday (21st) will be paid tomorrow (18th) ? I can't find anything on the net

Hi all, I have a query relating to pension credit for my father, I hope someone can give me some advice please. My father will be 62 this month, he currently works full time and has been for several years. He wants to retire but will only retire if he is entitled to pension credit, I have checked on various websites and he will be eligible for pension credit in may this year. He is willing to quit work before applying for pension if he will definitely get it. My question is about his employment, when looking at the eligibility for pension credit will they look at if he is working or how long he has been unemployed for?

Hello. I have checked pension fund statement from Aviva and it is £10000 less than last year. It was worth £34000 last year and only £24000 now. Do you know of any reason why this has happened. I pay £100 per month in contributions, therefore I may well have not paid any in for the last 9 years , as its gone? Thanks .

Hi everyone. this post is regarding the title. Having been in recepit of p/credit as of today,19/07/12 i have enquired as to if you can cancel i/benefit and receive p/credit in full. Yes you cancel i/benefit, but you are still liable for a medical test the same if you receive p/credit in full. The moral of this is it`s no short cut to avoid being selected for the ATOS medical. This dreadfull penny pinching goverment is against all law abiding citizens, penalising us for not being able to work at all. They sit in their ivory towers, thinking of their fabulous pensions to come,whilst making us suffer to the point of desperation. Just hang on in there and accept the test and see what the outcome is. The goverment states that a single person over 60 should not be expected to live on less than £140.00 p/wk, some joke eh. Either way we should not be worse off whether it be incapacity or pension credit. One word of warning though,if you claim p/credit in full, you will not receive N I contributions at all. Cheers, Askboy:|

Is there an ulterior motive to the pension change ? If people with a pension pot reach 55 under the new rules, they will be able to access the money, without having to buy an annuity. This could have implications for people with debts or who are receiving any state benefits. If you have debts, it is possible that you could be made to access the pension pot by a court to pay off any debts. If you are on any state benefits, you will have to disclose the pension pot as savings, which could mean that benefit entitlement may be cancelled or reduced. Keep an eye on the government when they put the legislation through to see if they add any protections to stop either of these issues affecting people.

asking on behalf of someone else. due to divorce my friends exwife requested a pension forecast fron his employer who provided it to her. work has now told him he owes them £500 for providing it and must pay it asp is this correct