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Increasing UK State pension


woolybanana
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If you have the money you can pay a lump sum to top up your UK State pension but but the offer is open only for a couple of years. Not sure if it is a good deal but some might be interested.

more info at gov.uk/state-pension-topup

or

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2775502/Act-claim-state-pension-ups.html
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No matter what they do,  I will  always be worse off. It is starting to feel as if it is getting personal now.

My current feelings towards the current incombants at the Works and Pensions Department from the top down are unprintable.

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A rather ghoulish calculation.

For an extra £10 a week I wolf have to give this load of spivs £8270

So it would take me nearly 16 years to get my money back even if it wasn't making any interest..

For £8270 I reckon I could get £156 a year in interest  i.e £3 a week anyway..

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According to the calculator I can get another £25 a week if I give them £15,625 on my next birthday.

So it would take 12 years before I got my money back, by which time £25 might be worth s*d all.

Or does the £25 per week increase with inflation? That would make a difference, but I can't find any details.

Anyway, a return of 25 x 52 = 1300 pa is better than the £300-odd pa I'd get by leaving it in a bank,

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Apparently the extra pension is an "inflation-proofed extra additional State Pension", so might be interesting, for us at any rate.

[url]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300007/wms-state-pension-top-up.pdf [/url]

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[quote user="idun"]Yes, it would go up with inflation, although didn't I hear that they are going to freeze some benefit or other, maybe pensions this year?

The french government froze french pensions.

[/quote]

I seem to remember that state pensions aren't being frozen but some benefits will be.

I looked into paying for extra years a long time ago and decided it would probably be a good thing for younger people who had perhaps not settled into a career until later, or like one of my sons who worked for a charity, wasn't paid much and who hadn't started paying into a pension. It dfinitely wasn't worth it for me.

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I see from a couple of posts above that the UK gov't is succeeding in getting people to refer to pensions as "benefits" [:(]

WB. I was about to challenge the annual figure you originally posted for Class 3 contributions, but see that you have now drastically revised it upwards.

The last time I paid these they amounted to £356.20, in 2003, for an extra "approximately 2 to 3%" of the then annual basic pension of £3926.

So, estimating the increase at 2.5%, this one-off payment of £356 gave about £100 per annum extra, say £2 per week. Pretty good value, as you say.

Now, I am offered £25 extra per week, £1300 per annum, 13 times as much,  for a one-off payment of £15625, nearly 44 times as much.

I'm not sure that's a good deal either.

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[quote user="nomoss"]According to the calculator I can get another £25 a week if I give them £15,625 on my next birthday.

So it would take 12 years before I got my money back, by which time £25 might be worth s*d all.

Or does the £25 per week increase with inflation? That would make a difference, but I can't find any details.

Anyway, a return of 25 x 52 = 1300 pa is better than the £300-odd pa I'd get by leaving it in a bank,

[/quote]

That's true but you won't get the £15,625 back as capital.

Remember also that the pension is taxable, whereas something like a LivretA or a LDD isn't.

I suppose it depends on having capital over and above that which you might need to draw on in the case of a rainy day, and whether you wish to leave capital to your inheritors.

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[quote user="gardengirl "]

I seem to remember that state pensions aren't being frozen but some benefits will be.

I looked into paying for extra years a long time ago and decided it would probably be a good thing for younger people who had perhaps not settled into a career until later, or like one of my sons who worked for a charity, wasn't paid much and who hadn't started paying into a pension. It dfinitely wasn't worth it for me.

[/quote]

I did that too, GG, looked at it years ago and, it's as you've said, not worth it at all.

I rang them to discuss it and they told me that, in any case, I'd get OH's pension if he pre-deceased me.

No harm looking at it again, I suppose, but I don't imagine for a moment that it'd be any advantage.

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mint said:'I rang them to discuss it and they told me that, in any case, I'd get OH's pension if he pre-deceased me.'

Mint, you'll have to be a VERY SPECIAL lady to get this in the future, well a VERY SPECIAL lady born after the 6th of April 1953.

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Nomoss, it has always been classed as a benefit, as it is in the 'benefits' budget.

Try telling my Dad he is on benefit, he would be angry as hell.

There should be a word for this sort of automatic payment, a payment that is not means tested. I cannot think of another word, but there should be one.

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[quote user="idun"]mint said:'I rang them to discuss it and they told me that, in any case, I'd get OH's pension if he pre-deceased me.'

Mint, you'll have to be a VERY SPECIAL lady to get this in the future, well a VERY SPECIAL lady born after the 6th of April 1953.

[/quote]

It's OK, id, I'm not counting on it!

The way they keep moving the goal posts, I can't keep up with the latest version of the game.  Alas, I do believe that the politicos treat it all as a game as their own nests are very well feathered and they themselves aren't going to be affected.

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[quote user="nomoss"]I see from a couple of posts above that the UK gov't is succeeding in getting people to refer to pensions as "benefits" [:(]


WB. I was about to challenge the annual figure you originally posted for Class 3 contributions, but see that you have now drastically revised it upwards.

The last time I paid these they amounted to £356.20, in 2003, for an extra "approximately 2 to 3%" of the then annual basic pension of £3926.

So, estimating the increase at 2.5%, this one-off payment of £356 gave about £100 per annum extra, say £2 per week. Pretty good value, as you say.

Now, I am offered £25 extra per week, £1300 per annum, 13 times as much,  for a one-off payment of £15625, nearly 44 times as much.

I'm not sure that's a good deal either.

[/quote]You were lucky[:D]. Although I have been retired now for five years the calculator reckoned it would cost me over £19000 to get an extra £25 a week.

I wonder how much I would get with that money if  I bought a private annuity.

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So, in say 10 years' time when people who have paid these top-up sums find that they are getting s*d all for the extra they handed over, will there be a mis-selling scandal and will people be able to sue the government for compensation?[:'(]

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[quote user="Rabbie"]

[quote user="nomoss"]I see from a couple of posts above that the UK gov't is succeeding in getting people to refer to pensions as "benefits" [:(]

WB. I was about to challenge the annual figure you originally posted for Class 3 contributions, but see that you have now drastically revised it upwards.

The last time I paid these they amounted to £356.20, in 2003, for an extra "approximately 2 to 3%" of the then annual basic pension of £3926.

So, estimating the increase at 2.5%, this one-off payment of £356 gave about £100 per annum extra, say £2 per week. Pretty good value, as you say.

Now, I am offered £25 extra per week, £1300 per annum, 13 times as much,  for a one-off payment of £15625, nearly 44 times as much.

I'm not sure that's a good deal either.

[/quote]You were lucky[:D]. Although I have been retired now for five years the calculator reckoned it would cost me over £19000 to get an extra £25 a week.

I wonder how much I would get with that money if  I bought a private annuity.

[/quote].

Obviously I retired a bit before you did (in 1999) [:)] if that's lucky?

I don't know how much you'd get by buying a private annuity, but using this site [url]http://www.find.co.uk/pensions/annuities_centre/annuities-calculator[/url] I find I'd get about £690 pa (£13.27 per week) private pension for my £15625, linked to the RPI, and continued to my wife if I snuff it, compared with the UK govt's offer of an inflation protected £25 a week, 50% transferable to my wife, for the same cash amount.

Trouble is, I'm not too sure if I trust this, or any, UK gov't to keep their promises to non residents. They don't have a good track record, do they?

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Now that the proposed number of qualifying years has gone up from 30 to 35 years I'm looking at a bill of £4k (6years x £660 per year) to get the full UK state pension. However as I work here I'm paying French state pensions contributions and have no idea when I can retire or how many years of contributions I'll need to get a full pension from either country.
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You are unlikely to get a 'full pension' in France since that depends on 160 trimestres of côtisations, and anyway there is no 'standard' pension. The amount you get is calculated on the basis of length of service, average salary, and the 'taux' 

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[quote user="DraytonBoy"]Now that the proposed number of qualifying years has gone up from 30 to 35 years I'm looking at a bill of £4k (6years x £660 per year) to get the full UK state pension. However as I work here I'm paying French state pensions contributions and have no idea when I can retire or how many years of contributions I'll need to get a full pension from either country.[/quote]

I contributed over many years, DB via Class 3 and reckon it was very good value. Your £4k is a cheap deal and the best around, IMHO, so, if I were faced with your option, I would pay.

In my time, one had seven years to make a payment (I think). I was very pleased when the UK pensions service sent back my last cheque saying I had no need to make further payments as the number of qualifying years had gone down from 45 (or was it 46) to 30.

Only time I have ever had a present from government ever!
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Drayton Boy, it would depend on when you wanted to retire as to when you  actually retired. If your french pension is sufficient then you could retire at french state pension age and wait for your UK pension to kick in.

French state pensions are complicated and if you do not have a full working life, it will radically diminish how much you will get.

If you are in good health then it would seem like a good investment to pay make voluntary payments to the UK for your UK pension, it will after all be approx £150 a week for a full pension. The payments are indicated below, so if you qualify for Class2 then it will not cost you much. You will need to have 35 years paid in now for a full pension and can go back about 6 or seven years.

Living abroad and employed or self-employed immediately before leaving the UK

Only if at some point you’ve lived in the UK continuously for 3

years or paid 3 years worth of contributions - you must also have been

employed or self-employed abroad during the gap you’re making

contributions for
Class 2: £2.75 a week

Living abroad and not working in the country you moved to

Only if at some point you’ve lived in the UK continuously for 3 years or paid 3 years worth of contributions

Class 3: £13.90 a week

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idun, am I to understand that I'm likely to get separate pensions from the UK and France? Surely if I was to make enough voluntary contributions to get a full UK pension then I couldn't expect a French pension on top based on the contributions I'd made whilst working here?
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DB, that UK pension is a fall back if ever you need it, (or for your significant udder) Think of it as a rainy day fund.

And France will move slowly to 65 as retirement age, so not so much difference.

I got my first pension at 60 and the second, UK State, at 65, and a very welcome sum it was/is.
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