UK State Pensions

[patsmb]

My question is about UK government pensions after chatting with a friend who to me does not seem to be getting her due

My friend emigrated in 1982 aged 34 having worked full time for many years from leaving school She paid the full stamp as it was called back then

She claimed her UK pension here in Oz when she turned 65 ( think that was her age it was approx. 9 years ago ) She now gets around 20 GBP per week and has been told it cant be raised even based on her hubby's UK pension -he is now 76

I on the other hand only paid the ‘small stamp “ married women’s my pension was 5p a week paid annually lol When my hubby turned 65 I was able to make a claim based on his pension entitlement and now receive 37 GBP per week

Does anyone think my friends payments are right

Her nephew several years younger than her emigrated at aged 20 having only worked a few years in the UK

He has recently received his UK pension and is getting much more than either of us ?

I know there were new rules that came out a few years back does anyone have any idea of how the system works things out now

[Whey aye]

Very roughly when your friend emigrated you needed 44 years in to get the pension.

If the pension was £ 44 a week when she retired and she had 16 years of contributions then she gets £ 16 a week pension forever.

 

Somebody that retired later with exactly the same full years ,if the pension was £88 a week they would get £32 a week.

 

Doesn't matter how much you paid in.The govt would credit married women unemployed and various other scenarios as paying full contributions.

 

You now need 35 years in to get full pension.Contribute for 20 years you get 20/35 of the full pension 

 

Something strange with the nephew,you need 10 years in to get any pension.You need more information from him.

 

I don' t keep up with it but the system is simple.Now, divide the pension by 35, multiply that answer by the number of full years you have in.

 

If they change it in the future then they change it.

At the moment I think it is still positive,I e they collect 100 billion in NICS and pay out 99 billion in pensions.Forecasts are like all first world countries,they will pay out more than they collect with people living longer.

That is bad,health care costs for an ageing population will probably be crippling.

 

Thus all changes going on.Those numbers are made up to explain it.UK Office of national stats will give you trailing figures 

 

I e 33 million workers ,13 million pensioners.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Whey aye

[NickyNook]

Your friend's figure doesn't sound quite right to me.

My husband also claimed his UK pension 9 years ago. He also gets about 21 pounds a week. The difference is he only had 5 years of contributions (from age 16 to age 21 when he arrived here). 

If your friend really did have 18 years of contributions (I believe they start counting from the age of 16 regardless of whether you actually worked at that age), then I'd say she's being underpaid.

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, patsmb said:

My question is about UK government pensions after chatting with a friend who to me does not seem to be getting her due

My friend emigrated in 1982 aged 34 having worked full time for many years from leaving school She paid the full stamp as it was called back then

She claimed her UK pension here in Oz when she turned 65 ( think that was her age it was approx. 9 years ago ) She now gets around 20 GBP per week and has been told it cant be raised even based on her hubby's UK pension -he is now 76

She should write to the International Pensions Centre asking for a breakdown of how her pension has been calculated.  That way she can see whether there were any missed years in there anywhere. 

I emigrated around the same time aged 32.   I had been abroad for three years but I backpaid six years subsequently.  I get £66 a week.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

@Andrew from Vista Financial is our Pensions expert so hopefully he will see this and guide you. 

[patsmb]

Thanks for the answers everyone - I do think my friend is being paid incorrectly and she has contacted the International Service previously to no avail 

I cant understand why her pension though did not increase ( as mine did ) based on her hubbys contributions when he retired 

Must add this note as it was laughable 

We returned to live in Oz in 2016 after a couple of years in the UK - Wrote to and phoned International services giving them our new Aussie address prior to leaving the UK 

Two months later our UK pension was suddenly stopped no payments in the bank Then we received a letter addressed to our address in Oz ( which we had given them ) saying our pensions had been stopped as they did not know where we were !!! ( You could not make it up could you )

I rang them them and the poor bloke on the phone full of apologies but could not stop laughing -neither could i and it was sorted quickly but !

[Marisawright]

12 minutes ago, patsmb said:

Thanks for the answers everyone - I do think my friend is being paid incorrectly and she has contacted the International Service previously to no avail 

When you say "to no avail", what do you mean exactly?  If she just asked them to check and they said "it's right",  she may have asked the wrong question. 

It might be worth her joining this group, they may be able to do something on her behalf:

http://www.britishpensions.org.au/index.htm

Edited January 31, 2020 by Marisawright