State Pension Useful Tips

by admin on July 5, 2010

Forecasting your pension
It’s important to check how much pension you’ll receive on retirement, which means you can take action now if you think you won’t have enough to live on when you retire. You can do this by obtaining a forecast of what your State Pension or other pensions will pay.

Gaps in your National Insurance record
You get a State Pension if you’ve paid enough National Insurance Contributions (NICs) during your working life. If there are gaps in your NICs record, your entitlement to the State Pension may be affected. You might want to consider filling in the gaps by paying extra contributions.

Pension rule changes from 2006
Since April 2006, simpler rules have been applied to both personal and company (occupational) schemes. These allow most people to pay more into their pension schemes and on more flexible terms.

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Government will accelerate the increase in state pension age to 66 years.

by admin on June 26, 2010

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the coalition government will accelerate the increase in state pension age to 66 years.

In his Budget speech on 22nd June 2010, Osborne also confirmed John Hutton has been tasked with a review to public sector pay and pensions.

He will report initially in September to inform the spending review and then more fully before next year’s Budget.

The budget document states: “Given the challenges posed by an aging society, the government will review when the state pension age will rise to 66.

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The State Pension as part of your retirement plan

June 20, 2010

Once you claim your State Pension, it gives you a regular income for the rest of your life. It can give you a reliable foundation for your income in retirement, although it might not be enough to support the lifestyle you want. So you may decide you want to save for yourself on top of [...]

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Qualifying for a State Pension

April 19, 2010

On 6 April 2010, the way you qualify for a State Pension changed: to get a full basic State Pension, you only need 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions (in the past, men normally needed 44 years and women 39 years) once you have built up a single qualifying year of National Insurance you [...]

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Home Responsibilities Protection

March 9, 2010

New rules coming into force in April 2010 HRP will be replaced by a new system of weekly contribution credits from 6 April 2010 for foster carers, people caring for one or more severely disabled persons for 20 hours a week or more or getting Child Benefit for a child under 12 years of age. [...]

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State Additional Pension

March 8, 2010

Additional Pension (AP) State Second Pension (S2P) This is paid in addition to the BSP. Until April 2002, it was known as SERPS and depended solely on the NICs you paid as an employee. From 6 April 2002, SERPS was reformed to provide a more generous AP for low and moderate earners, carers and people [...]

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The National Employment Savings Trust – NEST

January 7, 2010

The National Employment Savings Trust – NEST – has been unveiled as the new brand name for Personal Accounts.Pensions minister Angela Eagle announced the name of the scheme at PADA’s London headquarters today. The NEST Corporation will be the name of the trustee body running the scheme. NEST is the scheme being introduced, in stages, [...]

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State Pension Forecast

December 28, 2009

Calculate what your State Pension is likely to be when you reach State Pension age. You can get a State Pension forecast online if you: live in the UK are more than four months away from State Pension age are not widowed or someone whose civil partner has died If you are unable to get [...]

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The State Pension

December 22, 2009

The Pension Acts of 2007 and 2008 have created many new provisions for the State Pension. Pension age will be equalised at 65 for men and women between 2010 and 2020. The change will not affect anyone born before 6 April 1950. The Pensions Act 2007 will gradually increase State Pension age to 68 for [...]

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