State pension COPE

[PhotoLady]

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

I think that's what we're all hoping for..... However, it seems our UK Government have an entirely different plan for us

[Aargent]

The trouble is that when the State Pension was set up, all those years ago, it was not set up as an Insurance based system [ you building up a pot for your retirement ]. It was set up so that your parents paid for your Grandparents pension, and you pay for your Parents pension and your Children pay for your pension. At the time of setup not that many people lived to collect their Pension so it was not a very expensive scheme, how things have changed. This was obvious years ago but it is not a Vote Winner for Governments to tell people that they have to work longer or contribute more to balance the books. Once it became inevitable to do something the jumps to fill the gaps were much larger hence the present situation.
I cannot see any light at the end of this tunnel as people are living longer and if the prediction of AI taking over thousands of jobs reduces the number of contributors whilst the number of recipients increases things can only get worse for those yet to receive a pension. Since any Government is unlikely to reduce the Pension the only options would seem to be to freeze the amount paid and/or increase the age of entitlement. I am glad that I am as old as I am.

[Mrblobby]

Thanks Hudswell , but if you read my opening post , I have already had my forcast . Quite happy just to wait my time . If I remember next year I will post my outcome .

[Mrblobby]

Well I have reached 65 and started getting my state pension .

Turns out that as I said if you where contracted in , you can not claim SERPS early . But if you where contracted out you can claim it early , one of the benefits of being contracted out . So I have been getting mine all these years already .

[Devil]

I received a notification of an increase in benefits. '...your benefit will be payable at the weekly rate of £48.48 from 09/04/2018'. Wow!

[PhotoLady]

Please let us know as we're both in a similar situation...

[Mrblobby]

Please let us know as we're both in a similar situation...

Was this addressed to me ?

To clarify , I got my state pension amount as per the forecast . But the COPE amount estimated was way lower than what I actually get .

To be fair to dwp , their estimate does say cope can be higher depending on your works pension scheme .

[PhotoLady]

Yes, it was - and thanks!
We took our private pensions just before we left Cyprus but won't get our govt pensions for a few more years yet.
Although I don't quite have the full contributions due to us leaving UK in 2004 my shortfall in the current forecast is approx. £30 less than the max pension I should expect to receive and the COPE quoted amount will make up that shortfall.
I'm also hoping I will receive a small Cyprus pension from the 12yrs I contributed whilst working there.

[MacManiac]

I was confused by the COPE element when I received my state pension forecast. It showed a reasonable amount of state pension and then another £65 a week for COPE. I have two public sector pensions (Army and Teaching). I took early retirement and have been claiming my teachers’ pension since the age of 55. What happened? Well it was as clear as mud to start with.

I contacted the Teachers’ Pension authority and received an email back saying they aimed to respond within ten working days. Four months later I received a reply in technical gobbledygook, which I struggled to understand.

It appears, according to my accountant, that those people who were opted out (both of my careers were opted out) that the mythical amount quoted as COPE was what you would have been paid if you had not been opted out. Teachers’ Pensions eventually confirmed there was a COPE element in my pension, even though I had been claiming it since the age of 55. So the end result was that my pension forecast was accurate to the penny plus 3% since April 2018.

So, for those opted out, it is a little disingenuous for the government to tell you about COPE as it does not add a penny piece to your eventual pension.

For those younger people who are not of pensionable age for years, I fear that the State Pension may cease to exist in its current form. The new Workplace Pension may well “replace” it. My former staff at the school I ran are up in arms as they are now faced with paying increased pension contributions, having to work longer before they receive it, and their pension will not be anywhere near as generous as mine is.

We worry for our daughter who has no pension in place, and - as an artist - may never generate the money to buy into any form of pension scheme. She is 42 and still thinks retirement is years away and “It’ll be alright on the night”, which it won’t be.

For our generation this may well be perceived in the future as a Golden Age, with index-linked final salary pensions, and the triple lock of pension increases still in place. Quo vadis?

[Flyer]

Mr Blobby

You will get the serps bit added to your private pensions when you get to state retirement age,

I did and it was a nice surprise!

[Mrblobby]

Mr Blobby

You will get the serps bit added to your private pensions when you get to state retirement age,

I did and it was a nice surprise!

I have got to my state retirement age , no extra for me , as I was contracted out ....no serps .

[PhotoLady]

So it seems it's a different scenario for everyone... How can that be?

[MacManiac]

I have heard it argued that those on higher salaries (who therefore pay far more National Insurance) should receive higher state pensions. This is not the case, nor is it likely to be, but it has a certain logic to it in that the more you pay in, the more you should get back.

[OldTimer]

Statistically women live longer than men so they were getting the pension 5 years earlier ,getting the pension longer having paid in the five years less , now it is equal and they still moan
No they have not been robbed .They are getting the same as men have for years
As for comparing the UK pension look how much people in other countries pay in for medical and their pension , my eldest son lives and works permanently in Germany and I was shocked when he showed me how much the government take off him there , , far more than UK

[PhotoLady]

Women born after 1953 have been badly treated with regards to pension age increase and it's this which is causing complaints - not because an age increase in general is necessary or unfair. Google WASPI and you may begin to understand why there is a big problem. Some women have lost around £40k in loss of income due to the way the increased age was railroaded through after a decision was already made for the change to take place at a later date....

German salaries vs UK salaries are generally higher, hence they will pay more tax in that respect. But also in Germany I believe they pay a higher rate towards medical cover.

I put in a comparison between Blackpool vs Hamburg and it makes for some interesting reading. I hope this link works:
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/c ... y2=Hamburg