Is it just me confused? So now we need to pay NI for 35 years instead of 30. But stay at home mums & self employed will be the winners. Those things seem to contradict themselves? Am I mad to not apply for NI exemption whilst being self employed? I am now thinking I could be paying 10 quid a month into a life insurance. I didn't apply to be exempt as I thought I needed to pay it for a pension. Anyone able to explain it a bit clearer or is it still confusing for everyone? I'm a stay at home mum & self employed, but by the time 2015 comes though my teens will be adults so not sure if any of it applies to me anyway?

Any ideas as to how we can clear c£30k of debt without having to :- a) sell our house as we have £35k positive equity but at 55 will never be able to buy again especially with our credit rating b) both come out of good pension schemes which are now closed to new employees and which we were relying on lump sum to pay off rest of mortgage at 65 as have had to drop down to interest only mortgage ( and bank is not happy about that !) . i've been told that creditors won't accept a DMP as long as we have money in the house and are both paying into a pension . I've tried to offer creditors 100 % payback over 10 years if we will freeze interest/charges but they don't want to know and just keep referring me to CCCS etc .

Hi I have got a Final Salary Pension with my current employer which I have had since when I started back in September 2001 I am currently ill off work where I have been since Feb 2012 After long discussions with my employer they have kindly offered me the chance of voluntary redudancy/compromise agreement instead of Dismissal, this will happen Feb 2013 May I ask what will happen with my pension? Or what should I do? Just to note I wont be returning to work in the near future due to my illness Any help would be much appreciated

Hello, I'm new to these forums and would like some advice on a problem I have understanding the complex world of pensions! I am about to retire and have a personal pension invested with one of the leading financial institutions in the UK. 6 weeks ago I contacted the company stating my intentions to take my pension asap whereupon I received a retirement illustration with the total current value of the fund clearly shown, together with my options and yearly pension figure. I then asked for another illustration as I had missed the deadline for retiring in December 2012 and I was sent another package showing the figures if I started the pension in January 2013 and the total current value had increased slightly.I completed the necessary paperwork and today received a call informing me that the forms had been received but the fund was less than quoted on both illustrations. In fact it was over 10% less. I asked why the fund had been reduced and they are 'looking into it' but I am obviously concerned . The pension plan has a guaranteed annuity rate which is double the current standard rate and I am wondering if this fact is significant. Is it normal for the total current value figure to be so different to the final fund value when the figures are only a week or so apart? Any advice or information will be very welcome, thanks.

Can you answer my question? is the state pension classed as a benefit. I read somewhere that if you go into debt with credit cards and you went to court, you would only have to pay a small amount back to the collectors as you receive a state benefit. Is this correct please. I am paying three credit cards off at the moment, which is not leaving me much out of my state pension, they do not have my address as I am living with a friend at the moment, so having written to them I just started to pay them, my email accounts with them has been cancelled (good job I have copies) they assured me that the wouldn't pass them over to credit agencies, but I expect they have as per usual. I expect they are trying to find me, but as I have no bills etc no and left my address 3 years ago, it will take them time. Thank you for any advice.

My wife stopped working in September, but the year up to then, she was paying into Aviva's Pension 98 product. She want's to know whether she can cash in her pension to get the money back that was paid in. She's not very good on the phone and was going to write, but if I can get a simple answer here, through the Aviva rep, it would be much appreciated. Boris

Could someone explain the difference between Pension Credit, Pension Guarantee Credit and Pension Savings Credit and give me an idea of who can claim them and what they bring wiht them. (I should change my name to confused!)

Hi, I'm after a bit of advice regarding whether to claim Pension Credit. My wife and I are both disabled and receive the following benefits: Me - Contribution Based ESA (Support Group) DLA - Higher Mobility DLA - Middle Care My Wife - Incapacity Benefit DLA - Higher Mobility DLA - Middle Care Problem is; I can claim Pension Credit but what happens to my ESA (Cont) and my wifes IB. Do we lose them or do we just receive a top up from the Pension Credit. Also, will our income level drop or stay the same if we just get Pension Credit. I'm thinking of the Support group extra payment, whether we lose that amount or not. I aslo get a small pension due to ill-health retirement. Many thanks

I would like to know if there is any help available for my Mum. She is recently retired from working in the Care Sector, divorced, living in a rented cottage in The Dales and receiving pension/ housing benefit of £400 per month. Unfortunately this is insufficient to meet her council tax, electric (approx £180 a quarter), water bills etc.. My Mum would like to work part time, although she is limited due to increasingly severe back problems and the scarcity of jobs in her rural community. I however, am worried that if she takes a job, even part-time, it might affect her benefits. I would love to know if any other forum members have any experience of addressing situations like this. Naturally, it would be great to hear that there was more financial help available for people in my Mum's situation or that there was a provision for her to earn enough to bring her income up to level where she could survive. I would, however, also be interested in hearing any advice on how others might cope on such a low income. In the interim, I help out financially as best as I can, and next spring plan to visit her and plant a vegetable patch in her garden to save on food bills. Any ideas/ advice gratefully accepted! Little Alf

Looking for any other peeps with Pension plan circa 1988 initially with TSB then Scottish Widows and Lloyds TSB Scottish Widows. Have original terms and conditions if you need them.

Hi Not sure it I`m in the right place but here goes. I was involved in a bad road accident in 2004 but managed to return to work in the Civil Service until 2009 when I was given ill health retirement. I have been waiting all this time for my Solicitor to finalise my claim with the Motor Insurance Bureau as I was hit by a stolen lorry. They have made me a fair offer which I have accepted but now my Solicitor has said that there may be a risk of Capita, who administer my pension, to make a claim for refund of my early ill health retirement pension but he cannot give me a prescedence at the moment . I am desperate both emotionally and financially to settle this and being on the brink it seems that there will be a further delay. Has anyone heard or had experience of this? Many thanks

Hi all, this is my first post here... This question is for a friend of mine, who is on Income Related ESA and has a small occupational pension fund - about £30K - which she thought was locked up until she was 60. Well, it turns out this is not the case, because of ill health she could draw on it, the princely sum of £10 a week. DWP are asking for a pension statement. Does this mean she has to draw her pension early? We know that any such payments will be deducted from her ESA. Or, can she wait till she reaches normal retirement age, because who knows, she might get well again which would be lovely. Thanks for reading. x clouty x

Hi, Last May I had a visit from a customer compliance officer because I was on Income support while being a carer for my disabled partner. My partner had an ISA which I didn't know about at the time and it took our household savings over the lower limit of £6000 for savings while on income support. We had to send in all bank statements last August etc going back to when the ISA was started. We heard nothing until last week when I received a letter stating overpayment of £6000. The overpayment period is from jan 2005 to aug 2011 when they received our statements and reduced my income support accordingly. So the £6000 overpayment refers to jan 2005 to august 2011. However my disabled partner is now 64 years of age and has been entitled to claim pension credit (instead of me claiming income support) from 2008. We didn't know that she (we) could claim pension credit instead of income support until the CAB told us this year. Can we offset the income support overpayment against what we should have been getting on pension credit? If we had been claiming pension credit from october 2008 when my partner turned 60 then we would have been allowed to have up to £9,999 before any deductions so that would reduce the £6000 overpayment. The capital limits (before deductions are made) are currently £6000 for income support (you then lose £1 per week per £250 over £6000) and £10,000 for Pension credit (you then lose £1 per week for every £500 over £10,000). So, had we been claiming pension credit since 2008 then there would have been overpayment up that date but not from that date. I have received the Breakdown of the overpayment calculations and because our savings cash and capital was around £8,000 then the overpayment as they see it is for the full period of 7 years. I have read somewhere that we may be able to have this overpayment reduced because we should have been claiming pension credit and we would not then have been over the capital threshold since 2008 and not have incurred the overpayment after that date. If anyone could point me in the right direction or to confirm this (or not) that one might offset the other then I would be very grateful. Thanks again P.

Hi Could anyone tell me if someone claims back their PPI will it affect their pension credit? If they do get their PPI back can the recipient ask for the cheque to be signed over to someone else ie a family member? Thank you in advance.

i, Last May I had a visit from a customer compliance officer because I was on Income support while being a carer for my disabled partner. My partner had an ISA which I didn't know about at the time and it took our household savings over the lower limit for savings while on income support. We had to send in all bank statements etc going back to when the ISA was started. We heard nothing until last week when I received a letter stating Overpayment of £6000. The overpayment period is from jan 2005 to aug 2011 when they received our statements and reduced my income support accordingly. So the £6000 overpayment refers to jan 2005 to august 2011. However my disabled partner is now 64 years of age and has been entitled to claim pension credit (instead of me claiming income support) from 2008. We didn't know that she (we) could claim pension credit instead of income support until the CAB told us this year. The capital limits (before deductions are made) are currently £6000 for income support (you then lose £1 per week per £250 over £6000) and £10,000 for Pension credit (you then lose £1 per week for every £500 over £10,000). So, had we been claiming pension credit since 2008 then there would have been overpayment up that date but not from that date. I have received the breakdown of the overpayment calculations and because our savings cash and capital was around £8,000 then the overpayment as they see it is for the full period of 7 years. I have read somewhere that we may be able to have this overpayment reduced because we should have been claiming pension credit and we would not then have been over the capital threshold since 2008 and not have incurred the overpayment after that date. If anyone could point me in the right direction or to confirm this (or not) that one might offset the other then I would be very grateful. Thanks again P.

I have been receiving PC for awhile with adjustment for wife being on ESA etc. When wife stopped claiming we notified them of a change of circumtances for my pension to be upped. The PC was increased, but they never took into consideration that my wife was entitled to carer's allowance, but not in payment. Again we notified them and they paid us arrears. However a week later we got what we thought was an arrears payment and basically spent it. The following week in addition to my regular PC payment which was on a Wednesday, on the Thursday we had another payment of £212. We then contacted the DWP Pensions to query this and they were unable to explain the extra payment, but said they would look into it. The following week we had another payment for £212 and by this time we were quite worried so contacted DWP again to query it and again they were unable to tell us why we were getting the extra amount. By this time the additional amounts paid had amounted to over £636. When discussing the issue with the rep from the DWP I noticed that the amount was exactly the same amount that was paid to me as pension when they had not taken into account my wife's carer's allowance. We were the ones notifying the DWP and also asking them to stop paying us the extra money as we now felt we were not entitled to it, but the answer was that as they did not know, they could not stop the payments! It now seems that one department is paying us Pension Credit on the Wednesday and another is paying us Pension credit on the Thursday. We have always been paid PC on the Wednesday which is why we thought it was an arrears payment initially when we received a payment on the Thursday. We have held onto some of the money, but are now concerned that when they discover their mistake, they will be clawing back the overpayment at a rate we cannot afford even though they had made an "official mistake"! Also it is very difficult controlling the temptation to spend it on something useful as the first lot we spent at the vet sorting out our cat. Not sure what more we can do or what we should do.

I am new to the forum and so apologies if this has been covered before. When I left my employer in 1986 the company put me on to Sedgwicks, (now Mercer) who advised me to transfer out of the company final salary scheme and into a section 32 buyout. My final salary pension was planned to provide a pension of £14000 and I was told I could reasonably expect to receive a pension of £28000 by transferring and so I did. The section 32 buyout had a GMP of £2907 which I wasn't aware of at the time. In 1999 I claimed for mis-selling and there was no argument and Sedgwick proposed to add a further £3500 to the fund to compensate me. My former employer would not allow me to re-enter their scheme. I challenged the amount proposed but was told that the calculations were made in accordance with PIA rules and that with several years before my pension was due it was considered sufficient to ensure that the sum available at retirement age would be equivalent to what I would have received had I not transferred out. I had no choice but to accept the amount offered. As I approach retirement age and without any communication from Sedgwick or Mercer since I have now discovered that not only was the amount woefully inadequate but it hasn't even increased the value of my pension beyond the original GMP - in effect I have not been compensated one penny. I have written to Mercer who have told me they have no case to answer and if I am unsatisfied to take it up with the Ombudsman which I am in the process of doing. But, I wonder if anyone else has had similar experience and if they have escalated and what the outcome was. It seems terribly unfair to me. The objective of the original compensation will by no means be achieved and I am severely disadvantaged. I suspect the Ombudsman will not find in my favour and I feel I want to take the matter further but do not know where but it sounds like something which could become terribly expensive and I don't have the means to pursue which in itself feels terribly unfair. Thanks

My mother had an agreed overdraft of £2,000 with LLoyds TSB and when she started to go over it was told there was leeway,with charges,no specific amount,just 'leeway'.This week her entire pension of £142,60 which she lives on was consumed and her debit card stopped,she has been unable to withdraw anything at all and was facing the prospect of not being able to buy food for a week.The next day they sent her a letter asking for the remaining £41.20 that she was overdrawn. Is there anyone to whom a complaint can be lodged about this or is it just something she has to put up with?

My wife had decided to take the state pension early, she reached 60 in May. As a result we lost my pension credit award, and our working tax credit was reduced by £30 The problem is further accentuated by the fact my wifes earnings will drop from last year when she goes back to school in September. Is there any way of assessing which option is best. My wife has spoken to the pension service and they were of no use at all, apart from suggesting if she wanted too she could change back

I have posted this question before but didn't get a reply - probably because I made it over complicated. The points in question are: 1. Guaranteed Pension Credit was awarded from Jan 2010 with an AIP until June 2014. 2. All of my income was taken into account including WTC's. 3. The GPC payments ceased in Aug 2010 and I received no letters or telephone calls. 4. In September 2010, November 2010 & December 2010 the DWP wrote to me telling me that they had heard nothing from the bank re. the mortgage despite me sending in 3 forms MI12's (Nov 2009, March 2010 & Nov 2010. GPC was due irrespective of housing costs! 5. In March 2010 the DWP wrote to me telling me that my claim had been terminated due to lack of mortgage information. 6. Eventually in June 2011 The DWP wrote to me telling me that the payments had been suspended in Aug 2010 because of some information which the computer had downloaded from HMRC re. the WTC's. 7. Letter July 2012 from DWP telling me that it wasn't suspended but 'inhibited'. All I want to know is did I have the right to be advised as per the suspension rules in Aug 2010 or before or can the DWP just stop money with no explanation and that I have no appeal rights? I never received any letters about the loss of the benefit. Ironically, I still to this day don't know why and the DWP are refusing to tell me what information they had which caused it to stop. The nearest I have got to any explanation is that they only became aware that I was receiving WTC's in Aug 2010, yet have refused to confirm or deny that the letter I received in Jan 2010 showing the award clearly shows WTC's were used as income. There had been no change in the amounts - I checked that with my bank statements. Seems that they called it a suspension then changed their minds. If it is truly a suspension then the DWP should have afforded me the rights under the Suspension Regulations which is what I am fighting for - to get it all re-opened.

if getting a pension (from the husbands pension scheme) where their company pension scheme, allowed the widowed wife to have some of the pension monthly money after their death. (company pension, eg BT pension) if that is being paid to the widow, does that mean it can affect the decision to get bereavement benefit (after applying) - ie they can reject it ? or the decision to get Bereavement Benefit have no effect or link to any 'company pension' being paid Also: or if the Bereavement Benefit is got, could the Company pension be altered/stoped? or there is no linkage?

Hi all,I am hoping that somebody on the forum may be able to shed some light on a pension query. I was 65 on 27th May 2012 which I asumed was my pesionable date but I received a letter from the DWP to say that my pensionable start date will be the 1st of June 2012. When I phoned the pensions service for an explanation they really could not give me an answer except that "that is the way it is" and you and thousands of others are in the same situation, why should I loose 3 days of my pension. I am aware that the pension is payable a week in arrears but I have been told that I will still loose those 3 days who has my money?

Hi any help on this matter would be very much appreciated. My mum has received a letter to say she must attend a interview under caution. She is worried sick as she does everything by the book and wouldn’t do anything intentionally wrong. My dad had a stroke and she dropped her hours to 15 a week, and looks after him the rest. He started to receive a very small pension, he filled out the forms to let them know but he either forgot to send them or they were never received. his memory is severely effected as well as other things however still looks after finances. To my mums knowledge he had informed them of the pension and she is doing everything by the book. Can she get in trouble for this? Thanks in advance for any help.