End of Pensioner "Perks"

[PH]

Some of us have standing orders, and some folk still have rent to pay or even mortgages. All those are due monthly.

And some are just trying to keep their head above water, their main expenditure things that occur on a day to day basis, food, travel, some fuel costs... a minor inconvenience for you could if reversed by crippling for them.#

the last working day of the month like all "wages" and salaries?

No, not all wages are paid monthly.

[Mick F]

Ok. I'll agree on that, but standing orders, rent and regular bills tend to come monthly.
At least in my lifetime they have.

Good job my wife's work pension comes on the last working day of the month, like my service pension does.
My OAP is a top-up at a variable date each month. It would be good if they were to co-inside.

I've asked the pension service to do it, but the OAP is a weekly pension as per the history of it, so they refused ............... despite their sympathy and understanding why. They are tied by the regulations, but in my opinion, the future may change the regs.

Weekly divided by seven multiplied by 28/30/31 is a simple thing to do, and they know it, but can't do it.

[Tangled Metal]

You get the same money whether paid monthly, weekly or every 13 hour of the day! Just budget around it. You can divide 7 multiply by 28, 29, 30 or 31 can't you? So long as you have the money in your bank for dd or standing order you're OK. Besides the advice is to have the savings to cope with 3 months if income ceased. Or at least that's the advice l got given once.

[thirdcrank]

...
Back to my complaint.
Why per week?
Why do I get mine payed every four weeks, and not on the last working day of the month like all "wages" and salaries?
£138.37 divided by seven and multiplied by the number of days in the month.
Simple.
Some of us have standing orders, and some folk still have rent to pay or even mortgages. All those are due monthly.

I thought I had covered this before. Perhaps I waited for somebody else to muck in and then forgot.

The state pension is a weekly benefit and AFAIK, this goes back to the time when wage earners were paid weekly in cash. I think that goes back to the Truck Act(s?) designed to protect factory workers during the Industrial Revolution. As economy measure - and one which was very unpopular with a generation used to receiving a weekly pay packet - the government has changed the payment system to every four weeks (a fortnight in arrears and a fortnight in advance) and tried all sorts of trickery to con pensioners into believing that they must have their pension paid into a bank account or similar. Some pensioners retained the right to weekly payments and I don't know if that persists.

It's factually wrong to say that all salaries and wages are paid on the last working day of the month. When I was working I was paid every four weeks (again, a fortnight in arrears and a fortnight in advance.) As the recipient gets the same amount over time, I can't see any worthwhile difference, although on my pre-retirement course, we were alerted that the occupational pension would be paid per calendar month ie a change in the system which recipients had to get used to. A psychological advantage of thirteen pay days a year is that you get a sort of holiday from monthly bills when two four-weekly payments are received in one calendar month.

I only ever remember one problem with being paid every four weeks which was caused by the transition from weekly pay. It's so long ago that I cannot be sure of the details, but because there are 13 weeks and one day in most years and an extra day in a leap year, payments get out of kilter in that without adjustments you pay 56 weeks tax in one year. Somebody spotted this had happened and under the old manual PAYE it took a lot of sorting out. After that, they prevented a repeat by having an annual five week month.

[mercalia]

well I am glad I dont watch TV anymore.

Osbournes austerity shadow still darkens lives it seems. Well thats aload of old people who wont be voting tory at the next GE?
out interest these are the numbers for the new state pension and pension credit

The full new State Pension is £168.60 per week
Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level: £167.25

so those getting the full new State Pension are £1.15 better off per week or £59.80 better off pa
So those on Pension Credit will be better off than those on the New State Pension at some time in the future ( 8 years I think), if both groups get a TV license. At the moment any one living soley on a state pension would be eligible for pension credit

I'm on the old state pension. Which is about £128 plus a meagre top-up because I worked for 50 years. No Guarantee credit for me.

are you sure you cant get Pension Credit? The Guarantee credit is the really basic part of Pension Credit, that every person is quranteed, in a single persons case is £167.25 pw If your top up + Pension + ( any other income) is less than the equivalent Guarantee credit then you might be applicable ( if you have a partner then that complicates things of course)

The £167.25 is for a single person by the way

If you havent already put your details into this govt calculator, try it out. It seems that much Pension Credit goes unclaimed. You have to apply for it
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

[bigjim]

well I am glad I dont watch TV anymore.

Osbournes austerity shadow still darkens lives it seems. Well thats aload of old people who wont be voting tory at the next GE?
out interest these are the numbers for the new state pension and pension credit

The full new State Pension is £168.60 per week
Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level: £167.25

so those getting the full new State Pension are £1.15 better off per week or £59.80 better off pa
So those on Pension Credit will be better off than those on the New State Pension at some time in the future ( 8 years I think), if both groups get a TV license. At the moment any one living soley on a state pension would be eligible for pension credit

I'm on the old state pension. Which is about £128 plus a meagre top-up because I worked for 50 years. No Guarantee credit for me.

are you sure you cant get Pension Credit? The Guarantee credit is the really basic part of Pension Credit, that every person is quranteed, in a single persons case is £167.25 pw

The £167.25 is for a single person by the way

If you havent already put your details into this govt calculator.
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

It's means tested. In other words, if you have made some provision for your old age. Hard luck. You're out.

[Oldjohnw]

I receive £615 per four weeks which includes some earnings top up. I do have a Civil Service pension and, like Al although quite different politically, I have savings. I am happy to pay my licence fee although I watch TV less and less. I suspect that when I reach 75 in five years my TV will have died and I don't intend to replace. On the other hand, I might be alone and housebound and it will be my best friend.

[rjb]

If you are a couple of pensioners then the 4 weekly state pension is paid out every 2 weeks. So Mrs rjb receives her 4 weekly pension 2 weeks after me and vice versa. Paid directly to our bank a/c.

So how many oaps will disconnect their aerial, ditch the iPlayer app on their smart TV and watch everything else for free

[Spinners]

Regarding the TVL then I'm OK with the over 75's paying and I wouldn't even bother exempting low-income households.

[661-Pete]

I'm in two minds about this. For me, and Mrs P, it's not a burden at present and we don't expect it to be a problem if we reach 75. After all we can afford to pass on our Winter Fuel payments to charities.

But others may well not be so fortunate - and if they fall just above the Pension Credit threshold they may well have difficulties. There is so much poverty in this land of ours - but some people care about it: witness the pile of stuff that gets put in the food bank bin at the supermarket!

[al_yrpal]

Oh well, got away without paying for a couple of years, its just another tax. Feel sorry for old folk on low incomes who will struggle to afford it. Its a political football and it wouldnt surprise me if someone promises to reinstate the freeby to garner the pensioner vote.

Al

[reohn2]

Oh well, got away without paying for a couple of years, its just another tax. Feel sorry for old folk on low incomes who will struggle to afford it. Its a political football and it wouldnt surprise me if someone promises to reinstate the freeby to garner the pensioner vote.

Al

A bit like BoJo promising tax cuts for the rich.....

[Mick F]

If you are a couple of pensioners then the 4 weekly state pension is paid out every 2 weeks.

Is this the way it is arranged? Doesn't seem right to me. We all qualify our own pensions these days.

I turned 65 on a Tuesday, and a fortnight later, my first payment came through. My OAP is paid every four weeks on a Tuesday.
Mrs Mick F will turn 66 on a Monday so I would imagine her's will be paid every Monday.

[thirdcrank]

If you are a couple of pensioners then the 4 weekly state pension is paid out every 2 weeks.

Is this the way it is arranged? Doesn't seem right to me. We all qualify our own pensions these days.

I turned 65 on a Tuesday, and a fortnight later, my first payment came through. My OAP is paid every four weeks on a Tuesday.
Mrs Mick F will turn 66 on a Monday so I would imagine her's will be paid every Monday.

I thought that the state pension was always paid on Thursdays - again for historic reasons - and once upon a time, Thursday was the day to avoid at the Post Office. I get mine on a Thursday and my wife's is the following Thursday. I can see a logic in paying on other days to spread out the transactions but I doubt it's necessary. My knowledge of benefits has been slipping since I quit being an advice volunteer, but a lot of this is based on the frequency of the benefit. So, I'm pretty sure it used to be the case that the entitlement to state pension began during the week that the recipient reached pension age. Looking at this the other way round, NI contributions are calculated annually, even though they are usually deducted from pay. When I retired on my occupational pension, my NI contributions record was insufficient to merit a full pension so I paid voluntary contributions to ensure I did. What they don't tell you, even less arrange automatically, is that from age sixty, unemployed men qualified for auto credits ie free NI contributions starting from the beginning of the financial year in which they are 60. (I'm 74 now so that may all have changed.)

Anybody really needing decent info should consult Citizens Advice. To depend on getting accurate advice or correct benefit calculations from the DSS is dodgy. There's been publicity in the last few days about incorrect pension forecasts. One hit among many

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/perso ... t-how-much

PS This slipshod service isn't restricted to pensions, it's pretty general:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-48585900

[mercalia]

If you are a couple of pensioners then the 4 weekly state pension is paid out every 2 weeks.

Is this the way it is arranged? Doesn't seem right to me. We all qualify our own pensions these days.

I turned 65 on a Tuesday, and a fortnight later, my first payment came through. My OAP is paid every four weeks on a Tuesday.
Mrs Mick F will turn 66 on a Monday so I would imagine her's will be paid every Monday.

I thought that the state pension was always paid on Thursdays - again for historic reasons - and once upon a time, Thursday was the day to avoid at the Post Office. I get mine on a Thursday and my wife's is the following Thursday. I can see a logic in paying on other days to spread out the transactions but I doubt it's necessary. My knowledge of benefits has been slipping since I quit being an advice volunteer, but a lot of this is based on the frequency of the benefit. So, I'm pretty sure it used to be the case that the entitlement to state pension began during the week that the recipient reached pension age. Looking at this the other way round, NI contributions are calculated annually, even though they are usually deducted from pay. When I retired on my occupational pension, my NI contributions record was insufficient to merit a full pension so I paid voluntary contributions to ensure I did. What they don't tell you, even less arrange automatically, is that from age sixty, unemployed men qualified for auto credits ie free NI contributions starting from the beginning of the financial year in which they are 60. (I'm 74 now so that may all have changed.)

Anybody really needing decent info should consult Citizens Advice. To depend on getting accurate advice or correct benefit calculations from the DSS is dodgy. There's been publicity in the last few days about incorrect pension forecasts. One hit among many

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/perso ... t-how-much

PS This slipshod service isn't restricted to pensions, it's pretty general:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-48585900

yes I didnt realise that also. But also applies if you are self employed it seems. I unnecessarily paid one missing year. I dont think it just applies to unemployed people ( & "signing on") as I think they get NI paid for them any way

The www.express.co.uk webpage about inconsistant data from online and written happened to me.