State pension COPE

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Mrblobby
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State pension COPE

Post by Mrblobby »

So the new state pension started in April 2016 . Has anyone got it in the past year ? Did DWP get the COPE amount correct ?

Due for mine in 2018 , forcast £120 plus a nice amount of COPE .... we shall see .
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Aargent
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Aargent »

I am sure that there are Pension Experts out there who can explain COPE, but my understanding is that it is a figure that equates to what your pension would have been had you never Contracted Out rather than a sum of money that you will receive. It forms part of your Company Pension payment
Alastair

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Mrblobby
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Mrblobby »

Thanks Aargent , I think the same as you about what cope is .

I was just asking the question to find out if anyone had started getting their state pension in the past year , how the figures had compared to their DWP forecast .

Eg they might have been told £120 a week pension and £80 a week cope ....but did it work out that way ?
trevnhil
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by trevnhil »

It amazes me that it would seem that NEW pensioners are eligible for more pension than us older ones are ??

Trev..
Last edited by trevnhil on Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Trev..
daveg
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by daveg »

We might be eligible for a higher pension, but in my case it won't get paid until i am at least 66-67 yrs old...
trevnhil
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by trevnhil »

I can see the point you are making.. But the other side of the coin is that you are able to earn a bigger wage than a pension for one or two extra years..

I wonder if those in their early 60's would just try for one month to live on about 5 or 6 hundred pounds..

Trev..
Trev..
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Cactuslil
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Cactuslil »

trevnhil wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:35 am It amazes me that it would seem that NEW pensioners are eligible for more pension than us older ones are ??

Trev..
Totally agree and also we had to pay in for longer to qualify. I think it was 42 years as opposed to 30? I'm sure it must be "discrimination & against our human rights" 😊
daveg
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by daveg »

Accept your point Trev, but in our case we did our calculations before retiring early, and had factored in State pensions starting when i would be 65 and my wife 60. Now the rules have changed, my wife has to wait until she is 64 yrs and 9 months and myself around 66-67..... That's a lot of money to find from somewhere else.....
Robert
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Robert »

daveg wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 9:51 am Accept your point Trev, but in our case we did our calculations before retiring early, and had factored in State pensions starting when i would be 65 and my wife 60. Now the rules have changed, my wife has to wait until she is 64 yrs and 9 months and myself around 66-67..... That's a lot of money to find from somewhere else.....
I'm 44 years of age so State Pension age is currently 67 but looking like it's going to 68 per Crickland recommendation this week. When I've done my calculations for early retirement I've assumed my State Pension will be precisely £0. My thinking is the goal posts will keep moving and I'll be dead by the time I'm eligible or it will become means tested.
darrow
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by darrow »

trevnhil wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:42 am I can see the point you are making.. But the other side of the coin is that you are able to earn a bigger wage than a pension for one or two extra years..

I wonder if those in their early 60's would just try for one month to live on about 5 or 6 hundred pounds..

Trev..
5 or 600? you should be so lucky! try £93 a week! just as well I have a work pension that I paid extra into while others were out enjoying themselves. I do think that the present workers don't have such a good outcome in store for them, as most of our age group. Most of us were lucky being born in a time of prosperity. There are always winners and losers in every scenario though. :|
tonee
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by tonee »

Hi Just to clarify,you had to have had 44 years NI contributions for a full state pension.This was then reduced to 30 years,then raised to the present 35 years.If,like me,you paid into a private pension scheme and reduced NI contribution(was not aware of this at the time)your state pension will be reduced.
Poppy
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Poppy »

Were we really lucky ? I remember a time in the 80's I think when mortgage interest rates were up to about 14%. We started our married life with nothing and furnished one room at a time. We started with a terraced house and gradually built up to a semi bungalow. We were nowhere near as materialistic as the young of today.
For our wedding present from my in laws we had 3 books of green shield stamps which got us an iron I think. My dad was a bit better off and gave us 50 quid and his old fridge which the door did not shut properly! We both worked hard and saved hard to buy that bungalow which cost 12k. We could not afford to go out or have expensive clothes,shoes etc. Don' t get me started because the young have never had it so good!!
trevnhil
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by trevnhil »

Poppy.. We had a similar life... I certainly don't believe we were lucky.. Hardworking YES.

Trev..
Trev..
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PhotoLady
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by PhotoLady »

My parents were at the age where, if you got all your act together you were very well off when it came to the pensionable age.

My dad would have been 80 years old just a week after he passed away last October. My mum is 76 years of age. My dad started out his working life as a jig dyer but took a lesser paid job at British Gas as the pension prospects were better. My mum did a man's job putting kitchen and bedroom furniture together (remember the likes of Hygena QA furniture?) and her boss had to fight long and hard to get her a pay rise.

My dad took voluntary redundancy from British Gas (he was a Special Duty supervisor) at the age of 55 so got a lump sum and a private pension. Mum retired at 49 but in that time she'd moved from her job to running a market stall 2 days a week in our home town.

My mum only had her government pension which was a reduced one because she didn't go back to work after having me and losing several babies after me until I was of school age. My dad had his private pension from BG and in the meantime had taken insurance policies to mature each year to see them both through from his retirement at the gas board until their old age pensions kicked in some years later. In the mid 80s they bought a 2nd home (the house my mum now lives at) and I purchased my childhood 2 bedroom terraced home from them (at a very good rate) a couple of years later when they moved into what was then their holiday home on a permanent basis.

They reinvested some of their insurance policies and had a very good retirement of around 25yrs together including many holidays of 1 month at a time abroad each winter before my dad passed away. Now my mum gets some of my dads' pension from the gas board, her old age pension has been increased to take into consideration her shortfall (she was only on £77pw up until we lost my dad) and she's actually better off now than when he was still with us....

These are the pensioners who had it good. Anyone who has retired more recently and those retiring in the coming years will never have that kind of a lifestyle again as a common working man or woman. We may get an uprated old age pension but we will never have the kind of opportunities that my parents successfully experienced as "everyday working class people"....
"Have Camera, Will Travel"
Poppy
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Poppy »

Do you really think your parents had it good Jules? It sounds to me that they both worked hard and had the forethought to save for their future,investing in insurance policies etc
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Mrblobby
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Mrblobby »

My mum and dad both died in their 50 s , so never got a pension .... Only makes for a short story .
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PhotoLady
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by PhotoLady »

Poppy wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:40 pm Do you really think your parents had it good Jules? It sounds to me that they both worked hard and had the forethought to save for their future,investing in insurance policies etc
They worked hard, yes Poppy - but not right up to their official retirement.... Mum retired 11 years before her pensionable age.

And when asked, yes - they both said they were very lucky and had it good as well as realising that me and my husband were never going to be in such a fortunate position as they were. At the moment, we're doing okay as we're still going under the name of "retired" and muddling through the weeks and months as best as we can.

They were very lucky that my father was astute enough to be able to look ahead and was good with money, especially when it came to insurances.

My mum was under 17 years of age when they married and their marriage licence cost £3 at the time, rather than the usual 17 shillings and sixpence. She had never had any financial dealings and was terrible at looking after the housekeeping money..... she laughs about it now as my dad gave her a pad and pencil and made her write down every single penny she spent each week until she learned the value of money.

And apparently, those were the good old days - because I was already well on the way when they got married and then it turned out I had a very expensive taste in baby food ;-)
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PhotoLady
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by PhotoLady »

Mrblobby wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:24 pm My mum and dad both died in their 50 s , so never got a pension .... Only makes for a short story .
That's very sad indeed.... :-(
My husband lost both of his parents before they reached their retirement too - but in their 50s, that's far too young to be losing a parent.
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Mrblobby
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by Mrblobby »

So the contracted out part in COPE , is basically SERPS , ....you can not get your SERPS until you reach state retirement age .

I have been getting my company pension for ten years now , surly they have not been including the SERPS amount all this time when they did not have too ? If not , does that mean I will be getting the money on top of what I have already been getting ?

I do not expect an answer , but I can't wait to see what I get in 2018 .
daveg
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Re: State pension COPE

Post by daveg »

I just want to live long enough to get a state pension......That i paid into for years.......
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