General Chat

If you claim the pension from Canada it never increases from the day you get your first payment and is calculated on the basis of the number of stamps on your card while employed in England.

all sorts of things come into play with your pension - for instance, I worked past the age of sixty and delayed claiming my pension by two years - that seems to have had a major effect in bumping it up - also there were things like graduated pension and various other schemes that were brought in - my pension is about £700 every four weeks

Betty Boo ..... I live in Fife. Phone D.W.P. in Dundee (they sort my pensions out) they are very helpful and friendly and will give you a quote.

LW

Check out if you can top up your state pensions with Pension credit - forgot how it works but I'm sure if the only income you have coming in is the state pension and you have savings below a certain amount your pension gets topped up by Pension credit - My Dad gets it, but it is over three years ago that I sorted it out for him so I'm not fully up to speed on it...............

But according to press reports this weeks millions is going unclaimed in pension credits and people are unaware of the entitlement to it..........


*** runs off to google it *****

Right here it is .....................


Pension Credit is an entitlement for people aged 60 or over living in Great Britain. This could mean extra money for you every week. Pension Credit guarantees everyone aged 60 and over an income of at least:

£124.05 a week if you are single
£189.35 a week if you have a partner
Also, if you or your partner are 65 or over you may be rewarded for saving for your retirement, up to:

£19.71 if you are single
£26.13 a week if you have a partner
If you apply for Pension Credit and are eligible, you may receive a payment backdated for up to 3 months from the day you were first entitled to the date you first applied.

To apply for Pension Credit, you must be at least 60 or within four months of your 60th birthday. It does not matter if your partner is under 60.



Aged 60 or over and under 65?
You are likely to be entitled to Pension Credit if your weekly income is less than:

£124.05 if you are single
£189.35 if you have a partner
You may still be able to get Pension Credit if your weekly income is more than these amounts if, for example, you or your partner:

are a severely disabled person
look after a person who is severely disabled
have certain housing costs – for example, mortgage interest payments
Remember, you must be at least 60 to get Pension Credit but your partner can be under 60.


Aged 65 or over?
If you or your partner are aged 65 or over, Pension Credit guarantees an income of at least:

£124.05 a week if you are single or
£189.35 a week if you have a partner
If either you or your partner are aged 65 or over and have modest savings, investments or income – such as a second pension or annuity – you could get extra money. This could be up to £19.71 a week if you are single, or £26.13 a week if you have a partner. This means that you may still qualify for Pension Credit even if your income is up to:

£174 if you are single or
£255 if you have a partner
You may still be able to get Pension Credit if your weekly income is more than these amounts if, for example, you or your partner:

are a severely disabled person
look after a person who is severely disabled or
have certain housing costs – for example mortgage interest payments


Hope this helps
Jessie

Jessie, these amounts rise in April I think it is, by £6 a week, and there will be a one off payment of £60 each pensioner this month, to bring the rise forward to the beginning of the year.

Lizx

Angelsong,

I receive something every so often from the pensions people to tell me how much I could pay to boost my pension to full amount as I too work part time. Everyone I work with gets this too. It also tells me all the years that I can count as paid in full for bringing up children.

As my 2 children have a big age gap I was actually counted as childraising - getting family allowance, for 34 years!

Jacky