Pension reforms

[Char]

Strikes coming by the look of it; fuel refineries are a target so keep cars and larders stocked folks, just in case.

This coming Thursday.

[hughnique]

I tried this link J and this tells you what you might get, not what you have got and whether it's correct, there is also a requirement to traverse the government gateway which requires certain documents to verify who you are, and as she can only provide one of the three means of ID, passport, she is up the creek there and they want you to ring, yet again, and wait 45 minutes to get a human who seems to know very little and can't give any details of how her pension was calculated, as the figures are not available. It becomes a catch 22 situation in so far as lets not open up a can of worms, as it might be wrong but then it could be in her detriment. Just seems impossible for a woman to be expected to survive on £90 a week.

[Quiksilver]

Too right! The gérante of our village bar spends that every week on her coiffeuse and plastic nails!

[niemeyjt]

Just a quick addition regarding UK pensions.

I have already posted links on how to check your pension - and also the need to top up Class 3s before April in order to get the full back dates available - but there is also the option to defer your pension if you have not already started to take it - for those on the old pension you can get 10% extra for each year - for those on the new pension it is 5% per year.

The Class 3 top-up is currently £824.20.

see: https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/print

Now back to preparing my UK tax return - glad it is pouring with rain outside!

The scheme has been extended due to the phone line issues.

A ‘golden opportunity’ to boost your state pension has just been extended

People without a full National Insurance (NI) record are not entitled to the full state pension – currently £185.15 a week – but can pay voluntary contributions to rectify this. Normally workers can only plug gaps in their NI history dating back six years.

However, a change to the state pension in 2016 created a longer, one-off concession, which allows workers to make catch-up payments for the tax years from 2006-07 to 2015-16. This window was meant to close at the end of the tax year on April 5.

But the deadline has now been extended by 16 weeks to July 31, after Government helplines were overwhelmed.

Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We’ve listened to concerned members of the public and have acted.

“We recognise how important state pensions are for retired individuals, which is why we are giving people more time to fill any gaps in their NI record to help bolster their entitlement.”

Jon Greer of wealth advisers Quilter said the extra three months would allow people “struggling to get through” to access “this golden opportunity”.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, now of consultancy LCP, said: “This is great news for people thinking of topping up their state pension. For most people, paying voluntary NI contributions to deal with a shortfall in their state pension makes excellent financial sense.

“But it is also important to make sure that extra contributions are right in your individual case as sometimes additional contributions may not boost your pension. People need time to talk through their options with DWP and then make the correct payment to HMRC and this extension to the deadline should give them time to do this.”

The standard cost to make up a year of missing NI contributions is £824.20, although the self-employed pay just £163.80. All voluntary NIC payments will be accepted at the existing 2022-23 rates until the new July deadline.

Thousands of taxpayers with incomplete years in their tax record could be better off in retirement if they made voluntary payments, according to HM Revenue and Customs.

The first step is to check state pension forecasts at: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension.

If there are gaps in a National Insurance record, then the forecast will look smaller. All workers need around a 35-year track record to qualify for the full state pension, which for many people will exceed £10,000 per year in the spring.

There might be gaps if a worker has lived abroad, was unemployed or self-employed or a married woman or widow who stopped paying reduced rates of NI, sometimes called the “small stamp” when they were phased out in 1977.

For people who do not plan on retiring in the near future, the pay-off may be limited. If they have many more years ahead in the workforce, then they cannot get the money back if they overpay and will likely make up the contributions through work regardless.

If they are in ill health, then they may not be drawing on the state pension for very long and spending cash now may not be advantageous.

source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-re ... erwhelmed/

[Antonia]

But the deadline has now been extended by 16 weeks to July 31, after Government helplines were overwhelmed.

I first filled out the form asking to make catch up payments way back in November. When I hadn't heard anything I filled it out again, sending it this time by recorded delivery. Last month I phoned and was told they were currently working through the applications received LAST AUGUST!!
I was assured that, once each application has been processed, everyone will be given time to make back payments regardless of the previous tax deadline. So, there's still time folks.

[Quiksilver]

I phoned to chase my application to pay a top-up. Assured that no-one will be refused the opportunity who has applied before 5/4/23. We'll see, won't we? I wouldn't trust any Government as far as I could spit at them, now.

[Bayleaf]

Still wouldn't trust the Govt to ever give it back - by the time I reach the current retirement age, they're already talking about pushing it to 68 by then. Might even be 70 .... might be dead by then, if I follow my mum and gran's lifespan.

Sounds like a "fool the public and fill the Govt pockets quick" scheme!

[Quiksilver]

It's a gamble..pure and simple. I topped-up contributions before coming to France, naively believing what I was told by HMRC that it would ensure a full pension. Then they changed the goalposts (again). What they don't realise, though, is that I'm planning on living to be 120. That'll show them, ha!

[MAD87]

@Quiksilver Good on ya, mate!

Ladies - you might be surprised what you get from UK Inc. I just received the usual pension increase notice, but the amount wasn't usual. After the substantial repayment last year and subsequent pension increase (+£100/month), my monthly pension has been upgraded by a further £75.

[Hotrodder]

All this reminds me of back when I lived there. Long periods of unemployment. During which they kept sending me letters saying how my pension contributions were falling behind. They proposed me paying lump sums to get caught up. I couldn't quite understand where they expected me to get those lump sums. Raiding commercial skips after hours for stuff to sell at weekend boot fairs didn't raise "lump sums".