benefit issues

[Surfer01]

Thanks HB. Besides the pension there are other benefits like life insurance where I potentially but hope not, coudl be a loser. Also includes insurance for long term illness. As means tested Pension is supposed to be falling away in 2012 this could mean a potential loss of about £100 per month. I appreciate that it is a very complex question that we will need to take one step at a time. The main worry of course is the DWP leaning on her to get another job so that they can fulfill a quota. Obviously when ESA was thought up this was and still is a very grey area.

[honeybee13]

You're right, it is complicated. I hope your maths is good .

 

Have you looked at the terms of the long-term illness policy? If it's relevant, you might post what it says about inability to carry out normal duties and provision for part-time working using the insurance to top up earnings. If it gets too complex, I'll get you to PM me, but will try to stick to the forum in case it helps other people.

 

I'm not sure what you mean about means-tested pension. I'm probably out of date on the rules.

 

HB

[Surfer01]

At ht emoment if you have a private pension, your state pension is reduced by "x" percent in relation to your other pension. I am under the impression that this is due to fall away sometime in 2012 and you should get your full state pension plus a full occupational or final salary pension. I am not sure whether the Tories will try and reverse this.

our financial advisor has all the papers relating to the wife's current pension as we were going to amalgamate all the pensions into the current one. unfortunately he has been very slack in doing anything and has had the documents for nearly six months despite us phoning him for the return of them on several occasions. We could always ask the current pension for duplicates but why should we pay for them because the FA is being slack.

Chased him again this morning and if nothing by tomorrow we wil have to escalate to whatever body controls Financial Advisors. Right pain in the butt at present.

[honeybee13]

Surfer, you're talking about the FSA or fos to complain to. I'll try to get my head round what you're saying when I can, but it sounds complex and I need a clear head and maybe some up to date information.

 

Guys, can anyone comment on reductions on state pension in relation to private pensions because I don't know about this? Thank you.

 

HB

[antone]

Surfer, you're talking about the FSA or fos to complain to. I'll try to get my head round what you're saying when I can, but it sounds complex and I need a clear head and maybe some up to date information.

 

Guys, can anyone comment on reductions on state pension in relation to private pensions because I don't know about this? Thank you.

 

HB

 

Like some working-age benefits, the pension comes in two flavours. One is contribution-based, known as the State Retirement Pension (SRP). This, probably, is what most people think of when they hear about the state pension. It is not affected by occupational pensions to the best of my knowledge. The other is the means-tested benefit called State Pension Credit (SPC).

 

Not everyone has paid enough NI to qualify for SRP, and so those who are over retirement age but don't have enough to live on can claim SPC. In this case, occupational pension income is considered. I can't say what the specific rules are, but it is certainly taken into account.

Edited October 7, 2010 by antone
Typo

[honeybee13]

Thank you Antone, that's completely new to me. Surfer, does that clarify anything for you?

 

To add a note of caution Surfer, and I don't know why your financial advisor has taken so long, it's not always advisable to amalgamate all of someone's pensions just because it seems an easy solution. There are complex figures to be compared and information can take a long time to collect. Obviously I don't know what's involved for you, but you should be aware that the ombudsman is taking up to 2 years to resolve cases.

 

My best, HB

[Surfer01]

Thanks HB. We are going to be phoning the FA every day until all the documenst are safely back in our hands. Over the past 17 years it involves 4 different pension funds and two of the companies that she worked for have gone into administration and closed. When thsi happened the pension funds were then transferred elsewhere and in the meantime we also moved. It took us nearly a year to get everything together and not the FA is sitting on it. I take your point about amalgamating the pensions and you are right.

Here si soem backgroudn reading if you cna understand it. I am a bit puzzled still. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmworpen/1068/106807.htm

[honeybee13]

Thanks for that Surfer. I have a busy day today and will be out of the door once I type this, but from a quick scan, this seems to be talking about 'add-on] State pensions. I may have got the wrong end of the stick, because I was on about the basic pension, which isn't means-tested. I didn't think there were plans to do that yet, unless I missed something new - I wasn't around for the latest budget.

 

But we have a mate in the industry who should know about it and I'll try to ask. Being lazy, it saves me having to read it all and maybe I'll get an easy to understand answer! I'll post when I have anything.

 

My best, HB

[Surfer01]

Currently my spouse is on ESA and has been since about 20/10/201 when she had her first payment. since then she has been paid £991.10 in ESA payments. She has been for the ATOS medical but we have not had feedback on that yet.

However in the meantime as she is employed her application for Private Health Insurance has been accepted. As per the letter;

 

As explained previously your Private Health Insurance payments equate to 50% of your pensionable salary less State benefits. This amounts to £227.02 per month (taxable). For the period 21st September 2010 to 31st December 2010 you will receive back payment for the sum of £755.70 (taxable) which will be paid late February 2011. Future monthly payments will be made at the end of each month. These payments will be ongoing until December 2011 when a medical review will take place.

 

Due to my disability I collect Pension Credit every week. We are assuming that of the £775.70 due from the PHI she will need to pay back some of it, but we do not know if this assumption is correct. Does the monthly payment also mean that the ESA will fall away?

Can any one please advise on the above situation regarding the insurance payout and ESA/ Thanks.

[honeybee13]

Currently my spouse is on ESA and has been since about 20/10/201 when she had her first payment. since then she has been paid £991.10 in ESA payments. She has been for the ATOS medical but we have not had feedback on that yet.

However in the meantime as she is employed her application for Private Health Insurance has been accepted. As per the letter;

 

Do you mean she's claime under a Permanent Health insurance policy? That's what it sounds like to me.

 

As explained previously your Private Health Insurance payments equate to 50% of your pensionable salary less State benefits. This amounts to £227.02 per month (taxable). For the period 21st September 2010 to 31st December 2010 you will receive back payment for the sum of £755.70 (taxable) which will be paid late February 2011. Future monthly payments will be made at the end of each month. These payments will be ongoing until December 2011 when a medical review will take place.

 

I know that IB can be paid in addition to PHI, because as you say the policy already has an offset for State Benefits. I think it might be more complicated with ESA, with contribution based, etc. I hope someone else will comment.

 

Due to my disability I collect Pension Credit every week. We are assuming that of the £775.70 due from the PHI she will need to pay back some of it, but we do not know if this assumption is correct. Does the monthly payment also mean that the ESA will fall away?

Can any one please advise on the above situation regarding the insurance payout and ESA/ Thanks.

 

Hi Surfer. I've told you what I know about PHI payouts, hopefully someone will know about the ESA aspect. I don't understand Pension Credit.

 

[Edit] Sorry, missing text in the bubble, which I can't seem to edit. My understanding is that PHI policies have an offset for State Benefits whether you receive them or not.

 

My best, HB

[Surfer01]

This is a Private Health Insurance done through my wife's employer and normally kicks in once SSP falls away if you meet specific criteria. You can't make the assumption that you will definitely get it. We are not sure of the knock on effect on the ESA` payments and my Pension credit, but would really like to stay on the right side of the regulations.

[honeybee13]

Hi Surfer. The employer may well call it Private Health insurance, but the general industry names are Permanent Health insurance for individual policies and Permanent Disablity for employers, plus a couple of other names. Calling it Private Health insurance could make it sound like Private Medical insurance [PMI], I just wanted to clarify for fellow caggers.

 

PHI and PDI pay a monthly income, PMI pays hospital fees. I used to deal with all these .

 

I hope someone who knows about the knock-on effects will be along soon.

 

My best, HB

[ErikaPNP]

Hi Surfer. There are a lot of "depends" - on whether the ESA claim is © or (IR), as well as the PC aspect. I'm having severe computer trouble at the moment and as a result have lost access to a lot of my benefit stuff which I'd need to consult with such a complex issue. This isn't something I can answer off the top of my head. You'd really need someone like Antone to look at this for you.

[Surfer01]

Hi Erika, the ESA is contribution based at present. I suspect that my Pension credit may be affected.

[Surfer01]

We have just been informed via telephone that my wife's carer's allowance will drop away as as she will be getting ESA plus PHI. They have also stated that because she was receiving ESA previously, there is an overpayment. I think that as she is receiving the PHI, the ESA component should fall away.

[Surfer01]

Bit of an update on a previous post. My spouse is still employed but having passed the 26 week mark receives ESA and carer’s allowance for looking after me. She has osteoarthritis in her hands wrists and arms and chances of her returning to work are very slim. She is still “employed” by the same company. Several months ago the company asked her to complete a UNUM insurance form when she did and handed it back to them and thought no more of it.

She then received notification that they were back paying her nearly £800 at the end of February 2011 and thereafter she would be paid monthly approximately £227 per month which equates to about £53 per week The “back pay” was to be started from the time her SSP stopped or in essence from the time her ESA started.

We notified the DWP about the carer’s allowance and as I am on Pension credit also updated that department. In addition, the Job Centre has been notified due to her receiving ESA.

The carer’s section contacted her to inform them that they were stopping her carer’s allowance with immediate effect and that there had been an overpayment which they will be claiming back. We appreciate that we would have to pay most of the £800 back to someone and are not disputing that aspect, but expected it to be the ESA.

As she is getting this insurance payment, would it be better for her to sign off ESA and continue to claim the carer’s allowance. We know that our income will drop by about £15 per week as my Pension credit will also change, but then she does not have the hassle of submitting sick notes every month and of course no hassle with the ESA people and ATOS although she has had a medical assessment.

She of course has the option of accepting their decision and dropping the carer’s allowance and retaining the ESA, but overall we would only lose about £5 per week.

Not sure where to go with this one.

[honeybee13]

Hi Surfer. Just to mention what I said on your previous thread, some PHI/PDI policies reduce the payout to offset for ESA or IB. It might be worth checking what the policy terms are.

 

My best, HB

[Surfer01]

My spouse went for her ESA medical on the 13th January 2011, but has heard nothing yet. Does it usually take so long to be assessed? Is there any one she should be contacting to find out the results of the assessment?

If she is supposed to be in the support group, will she be back paid or does this only happen from the time a decision is made. Thanks.

[Surfer01]

I am on Pension credit and my wife has been on ESA since October last year. She went for her medical on 13/01/2011 and we only had the result yesterday and she has been placed into Work Related Activity group even though she is still employed and got back paid the additional amount as from 01/01/2011.

Will they now claw back the "overpayment" in Pension credit from us? We had no way of knowing whether she had "passed" or "failed" her medical until yesterday. Thanks.

[Surfer01]

My wife who is 59 years old has oestoarthritis in her hands, wrist and arms has been placed into one of these groups and she is a bit confsued. She is still in employment but at the moment the company do not have a suitable vacancy for her. If she leaves the company, she loses out on a her pension and other benefits and then she may not be able to do any "new" job for any length of time.

She has an "interview" coming up with a person from the support group, but is cocnerned that they may try and force her to leave her current employment. Can any one advise as she is very worried abou this.

[sj01]

Hi, I didnt know you could get ESA while working.

While I was off sick from work I received sick pay and income support and had to apply for ESA once I had to leave work.

[Surfer01]

After the 26 weeks SSP you need to claim ESA which is what she did. They are aware that she is employed.

[sj01]

After the 26 weeks SSP you need to claim ESA which is what she did. They are aware that she is employed.

 

Oh right. My company 'let me go' because of capability before I got to that point.

[leemack]

At the work focused interview, they can't and won't force her to do anything, especially give up an existing job. It is only mandatory to attend the interview, you don't have to follow a single suggestion they make - there are no sanctions.

[Surfer01]

At the work focused interview, they can't and won't force her to do anything, especially give up an existing job. It is only mandatory to attend the interview, you don't have to follow a single suggestion they make - there are no sanctions.

 

Thanks that should put her mind at ease.