Applying for your pension

[Gemini]

I know we have members here both above and below pension age.
We all know that the rules changed regarding pensions, and that some women born in the 50's have very raw deals.
As well as waiting almost 6 years longer than we expected for pension and bus pass, you now have to apply for your pension, or you don't get it.

Our friend P, a few months older than us, got his pension a few months ago, and he told us about applying for it.
You apply online, and can't apply until you get the invitation letter through the post. This should arrive 2 months before your pension is due. You can check online when your due date is.
OH got her invitation on time, applied and now has her pension.
Although I am a month younger than her I get mine 2 months later.

As my due date is March 6th I should have had my letter by January 6th. We blamed the delay on Christmas post, but when we had heard nothing by this week we phoned. No easy task as they keep you on hold so long you give up and try another time!
Today we got through just after 8 am.
It tums out the tax department have no record of me since I moved house and no address!! I have paid no tax since then, or ever really, but they knew where I was before .
Because I had applied online for a pension prediction, which came, to this address, I presumed my pension would, but no!
Now it is all sorted out and it will be paid into my account, in arrears towards the end of March.
If we hadn't phoned I would never have got an invitation to apply, nor a pension!
I find it most puzzling, as they had sent me prediction, that they claim not to know where I was! Another excuse not to pay us I suppose.

So, if you have not yet reached pension age, be warned, if your invitation to apply for pension does not arrive within 2 months of the pension being due, contact them!

[Nanto2girls]

Good job you got in touch Gem.

When i checked online for a pension forecast,it saiid it couldn't give me one,because i had worked abroad for a few years.
Don't know how they came to that conclusion.
Anyway,when i got my letter,i did it over the phone,with no problems.
Can't believe it's 7 years ago now.

[Daisy]

Gem - it sounds like a minefield, and hopefully everything goes according to plan now. I think the DW&P are so over-stretched it's a wonder anything gets done, so perhaps I've been lucky (so far) in my dealings with them. Heaven help you if you don't have a computer though!

[Lizzie48]

I get a UK pension for the few years I worked in the UK, that is fine, only, some letters are addressed to my first married name, that is 42 years ago or to some strange person or other! I have mailed them but never get an answer.

[Qwerty]

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Well for once I was born early, I never usually get much luck with stuff like that but I was born 1949 so just sneaked in for the pension at 60 and free bus pass, I don’t remember much of problem but I think it was done over the phone
Going slightly off at a tangent and Gem mentioning they didn’t have her address, I had a letter from gp asking if I wanted to got for lung check on one of those mobile transport things , even if you didn’t think you had a problem you could go . To be honest at the time I had a lot going on with the Botox lark, so ignored it and after3 reminders I rang them, asked if I smoked nope , had I ever smoked nope, someone had pressed the wrong code and had me down for heavy smoker 😱 so was told they didn’t want to see me then.
Sorry Gem I’ve hijacked your thread 💋

[Mimi]

Thanks Gem , that’s worth knowing . I should get a letter by July, if not I will be getting in contact with the pension people.
Im going to write a reminder on my calendar now .

[Daisy]

Qwerty - well done on arriving in this world at a good time. I have six years on you, so also got my State pension at 60. I must get a bus pass while they're still around - I feel too young for one, really, and our bus service isn't great. Where we live we almost need to drive to get to a bus stop - and you certainly have to be fit enough if you want to walk to the bus stop!

[Gemini]

For us the bus pass will be an asset. The bus into town goes from the end of our road, and also goes to the end of my friend's road, right across the other side of town. It takes a lot longer than driving, but will be free and save my petrol so I may do that journey once it is free.
It's almost £10 for OH and I to go into York and back together by bus (less than 4 miles) but then York parking it astronomical compared to most places we visit. Win-win for us
I can see for you Daisy it isn't much help, with a poor bus service and no bus stop close by!

[Plantaholic]

Daisy, even if you will not have much of a need for a bus pass where you are living, you can use it anywhere, I have used mine on holiday.

[Glammanana]

I sort of squeezed in with my pension I was 60 in the September and got my bus pass at 60th birthday but my pension delayed 6mths until the March so not too bad but I still have a moan about those 6mths that the Government did me out of,then to make matters worse when I took on the job at The Charity at 63 I was really stung for tax but at least I did not have to pay any more contributions to NI.

[Gemini]

Daisy, even if you will not have much of a need for a bus pass where you are living, you can use it anywhere, I have used mine on holiday.

Plant yes, we are looking forward to days at the coast with neither of us having to drive there. And as you say on UK holidays too

[Daisy]

Plant - this is true, and I think that's how we'd use bus passes - when we're away in the caravan.

Glamm - even 6 months delay stings, doesn't it. A relative of ours has been working part-time post retirement age and his employers insisted he had to pay NI contributions, despite my OH explaining he didn't have to pay NI. He's now fully retired, but it makes me cross that and employer got it so wrong.

Gem - care-free, free days out by the seaside sound wonderful.

[Sunshine]

I have just received my first pension payment on January 15th. I knew when to expect it because I had previously requested a pension forecast and they gave me all the relevant details. I could choose to receive my pension now (aged 65yrs 7mths) or to postpone it, where it would accrue interest, but I opted to take it now. So if you haven’t applied for your pension within two months of the date it is due to be paid, don’t worry, you won’t lose it. I haven’t applied for my bus pass yet, but I will. I’m not sure how much I’ll use it, even when I get it. But it’s certainly worth having, just in case.

[Daisy]

Sunshine - how many cruises have you booked up? I would take it now as well - I can't see why you'd wait because I'm sure the rate of interest isn't great.

[Sunshine]

Daisy, I’ve just got one cruise in the pipe line!