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Legal, pensions and money

Extra state pension payment

(23 Posts)
truman Thu 16-Sep-21 18:11:05

I am due to start claiming my State Pension and I will choose the 4 weekly in arrears option. I have read that instead of getting 12 payments a year you get 13. Does that mean for instance if every 4 weeks you receive say £500, one month you will receive £1000. I am having difficulty understanding this as all my working life I have been paid calendar monthly and all my direct debits go out at the end of each month. My private pension is paid into my account at the end of each month as well. I wish to continue working out my finances this way. Is this extra payment paid at the end of the year or at any time. Perhaps someone could explain. Why the DWP cannot divide the SP by 12 months I do not know.

ginny Thu 16-Sep-21 18:13:59

Once you receive your first payment the rest will follow every 4 weeks. Therefore 13 equal payments in a year.

NotAGran55 Thu 16-Sep-21 18:22:13

The payments are literally every 4 weeks .

If you are awarded your first payment on a Friday for instance, you will receive the next one on a Friday 4 weeks later , and so on until the end of the year .

13 payments in total over the year.

There is no ‘extra’ payment.

I hope this helps.

chickkygran Thu 16-Sep-21 18:23:12

We’ve also just started receiving our state pensions and I understand what you are saying. At some point you will receive 2 payments in one month. You will get used to it and it’s actually very nice receiving our pension at different times.

GillT57 Thu 16-Sep-21 18:25:35

This is a hang over from the time of weekly pensions

chelseababy Thu 16-Sep-21 18:29:30

I have mine weekly.

growstuff Thu 16-Sep-21 18:30:19

truman You are correct. Once a year you will receive two payments in a calendar month. My month is November, so I will receive two payments just in time for Christmas, which is quite handy.

I agree that it makes budgeting a little tricky. I have a chart with payments and dates I have to pay bills marked on it.

grannyrebel7 Thu 16-Sep-21 18:31:07

My birthday was in July and I got my first payment in August which wasn't the full amount, then I got my full payment yesterday. Therefore, you don't get a payment at all in the month of your 66th birthday, but from then on you get it every month.

mumofmadboys Thu 16-Sep-21 18:31:44

52 weeks=13 × 4 weeks and there are 12 months

Hetty58 Thu 16-Sep-21 18:33:42

I have my standing orders for bills set up four weekly - so they're paid in advance and there's a handy break before Christmas.

BlueBelle Thu 16-Sep-21 18:56:57

Mine is paid weekly

Silverbridge Thu 16-Sep-21 20:38:08

Thanks for starting this thread. I have just started to receive my State Pension. It took a while for DWP to work it out but I have now received the arrears and a Monday start date for the ongoing four-weekly pension. I found this on Saga:

If you reach state pension age on a Monday you won't get your pension until the following week because the state pension begins on a 'payday' – which is always a weekday - and the day depends on the last two digits of your National Insurance number, with NI numbers ending in a 00-19 being paid on a Monday and numbers ending 80-99 on a Friday, for example.

Is that correct? Mine does end in a number between 00-19 so it fits.

If you are a Monday (or Friday) recipient what happens on bank holidays? Is it paid before or after?

It may just be coincidental but the way this is working out, by the time I reach my next birthday the payment date will fall in the same week as my birthday.

Anyone who uses a spreadsheet - I use Mac Pages but am assuming MS Excel can do the same - you can enter two or three due dates - highlight, drag and copy and the spreadsheet will calculate future payment dates.

growstuff Thu 16-Sep-21 20:53:08

I'm a Monday recipient too. I received my last payment (before the bank holiday) in advance on the Friday.

Silverbridge Thu 16-Sep-21 21:00:24

Thanks growstuff.

JenniferEccles Thu 16-Sep-21 23:43:50

Just another thing to suggest- if you are not relying on the State pension immediately, for every year you defer claiming, you will get extra when you do eventually claim.
Apologies if this scheme has been abandoned, but if it’s still around, and if you can manage without it initially, it’s a very good way to bump up your pension.

With the benefit of hindsight I wish I had done that, but I was excited at the thought of several hundred pounds a month dropping magically into my bank account, so I claimed as soon as I could a few years ago.

Esspee Thu 16-Sep-21 23:56:01

I read that deferring your state pension makes no sense financially. Worth checking.

VANECAM Fri 17-Sep-21 00:10:01

Deferring is worth considering if :
(i) you continue working beyond 66.
(ii) you are a Higher Rate taxpayer.

In those circumstances, 40% of your state pension will be lost to tax.

Silverbridge Fri 17-Sep-21 06:54:58

JenniferEccles Yes you can still defer.

The State Pension will increase every week you defer, as long as you defer for at least 9 weeks.

It increases by the equivalent of 1% for every 9 weeks you defer. This works out as just under 5.8% for every 52 weeks.

Example:

You get £179.60 a week (the full new State Pension).

By deferring for 52 weeks, you’ll get an extra £10.42 a week (just under 5.8% of £179.60).

monk08 Fri 17-Sep-21 07:57:56

Both mine and DH pension is on a Wednesday mine 1 week later than his
.

ginny Fri 17-Sep-21 08:39:30

Looking at when my pension arrives in my bank account there are 13 payments each year. There may be 2 payments in a month if a month has more than 4 of whichever day you get paid. This changes each year.

JenniferEccles Mon 20-Sep-21 13:02:25

Thank you for that information Silverbridge
It’s pretty generous isn’t it?

Certainly worth considering for a lot of people who don’t need it immediately.

Theromented Tue 28-Sep-21 15:14:58

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growstuff Tue 28-Sep-21 15:18:59

JenniferEccles

Thank you for that information Silverbridge
It’s pretty generous isn’t it?

Certainly worth considering for a lot of people who don’t need it immediately.

It means taking a gamble that you will live 17 years after the date you retire. Half won't.