Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

I understand that the maximum state pension one can receive is £113 per week. I have recently been awarded £116 per week. Can anyone explain how this figure will have been arrived at? Is this my state pension plus something else? What might that something else be?
I have been told SERPS is taken into account when arriving at the total.

Its serps

Some of the older folk here tell me they get £145 a week, they said that is normal.

it may have been a graduated pension which you may accrued during the 1970 s? For every £7 you accrued something i seem to remember. I am sure someone will remember who worked and paid tax in the UK.

Sounds like graduation pension it should be shown separate from the state pension amount, the graduation pension scheme only ran for a few years and 6d was taken from every pound earned.

You should have received a breakdown on how much your Pension was arrived at, no one person is the same when it comes to Pension amounts. Could be anything. You need to make contact with the Pension Service to get the facts.

Mine is a lot more than that its based mainly on my husbands contributions I had a widows pension until I was 60. I am not complaining either!

If one has paid in the required National Insurance Contributions to get full State Pension they will receive £113.10. If someone has not paid in the required National Insurance Contributions they will get accordingly. Anything above that will be differing elements due to their personal circumstances and it can be anything from partners contributions, Graduated Pension, Pensions from previous employment, Pension Credit top up, age related elements, etc.

So it's pointless keep saying what one has received, or heard what someone is receiving, as everyone's circumstances are different.

Dalartokat wrote:If one has paid in the required National Insurance Contributions to get full State Pension they will receive £113.10. If someone has not paid in the required National Insurance Contributions they will get accordingly. Anything above that will be differing elements due to their personal circumstances and it can be anything from partners contributions, Graduated Pension, Pensions from previous employment, Pension Credit top up, age related elements, etc.

So it's pointless keep saying what one has received, or heard what someone is receiving, as everyone's circumstances are different.

DWP have written to me but will not give me any info over the phone or by e-mail. So I guess I will just have to wait until the post gets here, if it ever does.

You're lucky to get anything considering you've been here for the past 200 years!

frontalman wrote:You're lucky to get anything considering you've been here for the past 200 years!

...And been standing in for Noel Baba for most of that time....

You are pretty close behind Mark! Merry Christmas Nick.

Good luck to you all what ever you get .

Spare at thought at this testing financial time for us 48year old UK 40% tax payers .
Firstly being asked to work and extra 2 years ,then realising when on the government web site I've already paid up in full yet have to wait another 19 years to get anything ...that's if there is any left as you gang and pickled nicely in Cypriot brandy and efes .

Spare that thought please
Kav

Jealousy will get you nowhere!!!But happy Christmas anyway! Cheers

Sad as I am for those in their 40s, I worked full-time from when I was 15 and paid full stamp and all taxes, as did a lot of people who retired to TRNC. I don't think the UK government are giving us anything. We are all just cashing in our (National) Insurance Policies as we are fortunate enough to have survived the 60s.

dani wrote:Sad as I am for those in their 40s, I worked full-time from when I was 15 and paid full stamp and all taxes, as did a lot of people who retired to TRNC. I don't think the UK government are giving us anything. We are all just cashing in our (National) Insurance Policies as we are fortunate enough to have survived the 60s.

One thing for sure they give you nothing to true ....all of u enjoy and long may it all continue for you all .
I love the old hard up story's of bread and dripping ,rickets ,nylon sheets lol and no heating in our houses and now they are shaving some of my fuel allowance .

Jealous ,bloody right I am keep the efes flowing but don't spent it all on meal,nights out ,sitting in the sun and relaxing ....spare that thought at a time like this for the needy lol

Kav

Ps I worked at 11 butchers shop and and two paper rounds .....never stopped ,but want to

Those of us of a certain age, worked our bloody socks off, at times 3 or 4 jobs a week to make ends meet, but made sure we paid our NI stamp EVERY WEEK come what may, so I make no apologies whatsoever for having more than 113tg per week in state pension. I know of people here in the TRNC who worked at Civil Servants, and obtain far more than I do. They tell me that they earned far less than people in the private sector, but have larger state pensions as a result. That's they way it was, so learn to live with it - you have no option than to do otherwise. 20/20 vision is a wonderful thing in hindsight.

sophie wrote:Those of us of a certain age, worked our bloody socks off, at times 3 or 4 jobs a week to make ends meet, but made sure we paid our NI stamp EVERY WEEK come what may, so I make no apologies whatsoever for having more than 113tg per week in state pension. I know of people here in the TRNC who worked at Civil Servants, and obtain far more than I do. They tell me that they earned far less than people in the private sector, but have larger state pensions as a result. That's they way it was, so learn to live with it - you have no option than to do otherwise. 20/20 vision is a wonderful thing in hindsight.

Yes had the agrument many times with my dear friend a copper .....he pays less than me into his pension .
I earn more and pay 40% tax yet he works 15 years less at least and pension pro rats would get 1.5 times more than me .......but no point in moaning the final salary scheme went ,the state pension more and more means tested ....it's no that I have issues with ....it's the lazy sods that have never worked yet get more pension that those that have worked .

Kav

Kavenkoy can you explain a bit more please your last sentence..



....it's the lazy sods that have never worked yet get more pension that those that have worked .

If you do t work ,don't pay stamp ,you get more in pension and pension credits that somebody who has worked and tried to save all his life .


Kav

Having worked from the age of 15, now on state pension and also a (final-salary!) works pension, how I wish I qualified to pay 40% tax - I never have, never will, and my 41-year old son never has - I'm sure he would also love to qualify......
....and because I didn't spend it all but tried to save, I don't get any benefits, allowances etc - only my free bus pass - for however long that lasts....

Kavenkoy wrote:If you do t work ,don't pay stamp ,you get more in pension and pension credits that somebody who has worked and tried to save all his life .


Kav

From my experience of knowing someone who spent his life avoiding paying pretty much everything that is pretty much tosh.

I understand No matter what you have earned in the past UK state pension will be paid at £150 flat rate per week from 2016 regardless of what you have earned In the past providing you have paid 35 years contributions.
winners and losers.
Highly paid in the past who paid more contributions will lose out.
Lower paid will benefit from the new flat rate based on previous 2016 system
Scrounges will always benefit either way as they simply always do.

Jonnie wrote:

Kavenkoy wrote:If you do t work ,don't pay stamp ,you get more in pension and pension credits that somebody who has worked and tried to save all his life .


Kav

From my experience of knowing someone who spent his life avoiding paying pretty much everything that is pretty much tosh.

Ok so you now so much about avoiding or do you know so much about the current system?

So somebody that has been paid benefits still gets a pension in full .......they have no savings on paper ,are means tested and now qualify for pension credits and or rent being paid for nothing ....whilst the pensioners with two or three small pensions,some savings ( not mega bucks ) doesn't get any top ups .

So in the current system you are better off when you have not worked then if you have ,saved and have couple of pensions ......may be you should now the system a bit more first
I can take you to somebody who dodged paying tax for years ,had 140k savings in his loft ,oh yes as I have cleaned some of it .
Then has bought two houses for cash ,rents them for cash and gets pension ,£18 per week more than my dad who has two small pensions ......he then gets £512 per month pension credit on top as on paper he earns far less .

Tosh ? Fact so chin up and now the dodges

Kav

So this person you helped "clean" his tax free cash, why don't you report him? Surely that is tax evasion and benefit fraud, he could and should be investigated.

https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud

Jonnie wrote:So this person you helped "clean" his tax free cash, why don't you report him? Surely that is tax evasion and benefit fraud, he could and should be investigated.

https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud

Very true Jonnie very true
I am going to take some lessons in NC my friend over the next few years and see how it's done locally lol

Back to original topic rather than get dragged off with me and you saying what's right and wrong etc
I have seen new pension reform from 2016 will level things out ,sadly we will never know what the future holds

I don't fully understand Frommthe original post why so much difference in pay outs in pensions ,is it SERPS related or different stamp,rates etc
I would welcome anybody explaining it simply .

Like I have said before on this thread ,let's not worry to much go enjoy retirement and some peace .
And all have a great Xmas ,new year celebrations

Kav

kiplet wrote:I understand No matter what you have earned in the past UK state pension will be paid at £150 flat rate per week from 2016 regardless of what you have earned In the past providing you have paid 35 years contributions. winners and losers.

That's not strictly true. Even if you have the max 35 years NI contributions.... if you have been 'contracted out' in an occupational pension scheme for some or all of that period you will have some of the new state pension amount DEDUCTED to reflect the fact that you paid a lower rate if NI whilst contracted out. This will be called your 'foundation amount'. This is because people who were contracted out of SERPS will have the benefit of an occupational pension. The government are guaranteeing though, that your state OAP will still be at least the current amount of £113 odd per week, for example, for someone contracted out all their working life.

Also, the new state OAP will not be paid to people currently drawing state OAP or people who are due to draw it before April 2016.

The winners will be people like myself (fortunately ) who were contracted out for most of their working lives but who still have sufficient years of NI left to pay from April 2016 until they reach state OAP age, assuming they continue working and paying NI. This group of people will be able to increase their foundation amount for each year, post 2016, up to the new maximum, currently projected at about £148 odd per week.

It's very complicated, but that's the gist of it.

Wow it does sound complicated .

I opted out of SERPS for around 15 plus years,but now have been advised to opt back in which I have done last few years .
So my working life being around 32 years or so now I have paid continuous tax and NI .

My F.A advised this and this may be what you are saying ?
I have my works ,and my private pension and I know over a long period a good investment and you taking responsibility for your future blah blah .
What I would like to is to have my pot back,invest it myself in what I would like and for there to be no private pension for me .
That simply is without lots of charges I think it would make me more responsible and make more than them and singly have my own interest at heart.

Kav

Another factor is when you decide to start drawing your pension. Because of the difficulty in communiucation from here I ended up not drawing my pension until 15 months after it was due and this resulted in my having 1 full year deferred. I was given a choice of taking a lump sum or an increased pension and surprisingly the increased pension was far better than putting the lump sum in the bank here at 10% interest - in fact an extra £21.89 per week as opposed to a lump sum of £8,700 less tax.

For most of my working life I had saved additional contributions in a private pension fund. But Gordon Brown (at the urging of Arthur Andersens) destroyed that fund when (in 1999) he removed the Corporation Tax refund granted to pension fund investments in the stock market. The consequence was that a lot of pension funds stopped investing in the stock market which, together with my pension fund, then plunged in value by 42% (6930 on 30/12/1999 to 3980 in 2003). This in turn led to the almost total collapse of 'final salary' pensions and the ruination of the UK's proud position as the best funded corporate pension system in the world. With only 2 years left to retirement I couldn't possibly make up the losses and my private pension is a lot lower than I reasonably expected.

This may help re' contracting out and the new state pension calculation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ng-out.pdf

Yes if you defer drawing your state pension you can increase the weekly pension when you do draw it or take a lump sum but be aware that when the new pension changes kick in in 2016 the amount of extra pension you get for deferring is being reduced.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 102014.pdf

You are so right J.B.A. - Gordon Brown is responsible for a lot of heart ache and poverty now. Like you I have suffered big time because of him. He and his compatriot T.B. have between them ruined thousands of lives and I hope they get what they deserve, but I somehow doubt it.

Kavenkoy you said

I don't fully understand Frommthe original post why so much difference in pay outs in pensions ,is it SERPS related or different stamp,rates etc
I would welcome anybody explaining it simply .


I explained it simply in message 8

Yes thanks. Dalartokat

Is this applicable for new rules going forward .
I am not at the age yet to enjoy my retirement .

Is it true that after 2016 means tested will take part to see if you even get a pension from the government ?

Kav

Anyway why worry I've got to live 20 years first to find out

Kavenkoy all your questions and more are answered on this link.

For you, you can get a Pension Forecast to see how much you have now in the Pension pot, it will not be able to tell you your pension when you retire.


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/state-pensions

Thanks Dalartokat ......a mind field lol.

Kav

No I think you mean minefield

No it's done my mind in

Kav

One of the things I was asked was, would I like my pension paid weekly or monthly.
What's the advantage, one way or the other?

If you're not intending to spend it as you receive it, you can get it earning interest that much quicker!

Kavenkoy,re your message 19 'your friend the copper' just out of interest ,how much as a percentage of your earnings did you contribute to your final salary or private pension?

There may be a slight advantage if you are a tax payer to be paid weekly. You may pay less income tax due to the tax liability of your Pension as it is on the amount you are entitled to receive rather than on the actual amount received during the tax year. It is very minimal monetary wise.

State Pension is paid every 4 weeks or weekly and is paid on a certain day which is worked on your last 2 digits of your National Insurance number. It used to be most people were paid on a Monday but that is no longer the case.

Lottidotti wrote:Kavenkoy,re your message 19 'your friend the copper' just out of interest ,how much as a percentage of your earnings did you contribute to your final salary or private pension?

I have not retired but I pay 15% in one
And I pay net £440 per month in another ....yep tell me about it

Kav

Dalartokat wrote: State Pension is paid every 4 weeks or weekly and is paid on a certain day which is worked on your last 2 digits of your National Insurance number. It used to be most people were paid on a Monday but that is no longer the case.

I opted for my pension to be paid quarterly .. When it's paid it looks more, but has to last for 3 months ..

Harita are you talking State Pension or Private Pension?

Dalartokat wrote:Harita are you talking State Pension or Private Pension?

State pension

I elected to have my pension paid fortnightly - that worked - I get it every 28 days!!!! When I asked about it I was told that they could not pay it fortnightly to an overseas account, magic as it is paid into a UK account - we will look into it they said, I still wait for them to look but its only been two and a half years so I must not rush them - lol.