UK pension reforms: what do you want to know? (webchat)

i know very little about investments etc and have always played it safe with saving using big banks/Post Office. does encouraging people to withdraw sums to invest not simply encourage rogue schemes to prosper and prey on those of us without much knowledge of the world of finance? i have no doubt that we will hear more and more tales of people being ripped off by con artists exploiting this new "freedom" and ask how will you safeguard against this?

-granamia

y question is similar so instead i will follow on from this by asking will the state bale out people who spend or use the money then don't have enough to live on

and doesn't that mean the rest of us will end up paying for this on top of what we already pay

It's all very well giving people the flexibility to withdraw large sums from their pension pots - but many of us will not have the financial know-how to invest this. Many others I am sure will be tempted to spend it early. And then where does that leave us? What happens to those who, for whatever reason, spend or blow or lose their money and then have many years to live off nothing?

We are living longer...yet the ageism in the workplace does not recognise this and many of us are forced to leave jobs we would be happy to stay in because of how old we are. For those of us looking for work to supplement our income or to top up NI payments it's a nightmare. Given that this affects people claiming pensions and making demands on the state even when they don't want to what would you suggest?

Apparently there is a shortfall in my NI contributions (from a period many years ago when I did not work) and this will affect my state pension. I am 62. What can I do about it? The shortfall is approx 8 years worth.

I have a question,

I admit I am no financial whizz so I have tended to just go with whatever offered via my workplace. But there was a whole thing about SERPS and contracting in/out which I never really understood (but we changed from one to the other) - does this affect my pension in the long run? I am 57.

I wonder if you can clarify the position for people having to work longer in order to get their pensions. Will the retirement age continue to rise? As we are supposedly living longer I can see that this makes sense but working a full time job at 70 is nothing like doing it at 40 and there surely needs to be some reflection of this?

I am 50 years old and married. My husband and I both work in reasonably (but not highly) paid jobs. Neither of our employers offers a pension. I had a pension with a previous employer although this is not worth very much. I also briefly paid into a private pension when I had a job that allowed me to do so - again this is not worth much. Everyone says there is no point in paying into schemes any more so we are left worrying about surviving on state pension alone. Can you offer any advice regarding what else we might be able to do (that's actually worth doing) while we are still working

Thank you

At the moment my husbands tax allowance is reduced through a formula about extra income so he only gets £9440 tax allowance instead of £10500. When everyone has a tax allowance of £10500 will this claw back be stopped. It should be.

I have just heard on the local radio that the Salvation Army has handed out 600 sleeping bags this year to people who cannot afford heating. That's just in one town in the North East. I do not know about the rest.

One woman was in her 70s and her husband had died. Because her pension was linked to his, it took five weeks to get her pension sorted. She went to the Salvation Army because she had no money for heating or food.

Are you ashamed that this could happen on your watch, Mr Webb?

biddymarie, you can get a benefit check at any Citizens' Advice Bureau or you could go and talk to an adviser at Age UK. Without more detail, it's difficult to answer your question. Better to do it face to face.

In fact, the people who receive the new Universal pension will receive more than 50% than I shall! This seems so unfair and I didn't claim my pension until a few years after my date which was when I was 60.

At the rate it is going, according to one report I've read, it will be 700 years before Universal Credit is rolled out to everyone, gracesgran, so his answer to your question will be interesting.

Perhaps all the questions about WFA for those abroad could be rolled into one as we do seem to be being taken over by an interest group.

Anyway, my question is:

Under welfare reform it was originally timetabled for October 2013 that mixed age couples (one over pension credit age and one under it) would be unable to claim pension credit (through the older partner) but would be treated as working age and the working-age partner would have to claim universal credit instead. This means a huge drop in entitlement.

As universal credit was delayed, this date was delayed but I have been unable to find out a revised date. Could you explain what has happened with this?

I dont know if you are the right person to answer this question for me,But someone told me you can be entitled to a payment i am not sure if it's called? i dont think it is the winter fuel payment,But it is a payment made by the customers electricity pple the lady who told me said you can claim if you have a combined pension of a certain amount a year but do'nt have to be on benefits,Any idea what it is called? How much most pension you have to have before you can claim?And how do you go about claiming please?
Thanking you.

Can you please explain why War Widows who remarried between April 1973 and April 2005 and so forfeited their War Widows Pension will not have it reinstated from 1 April 2015 when the Pensions for Life legislation is introduced. This is a group of War Widows, of whom I am one, that is being treated very unfairly and unjustly. Our husbands too died serving their country, but this is not being recognised and we are being discriminated against. Why is this anomaly not going to be put right?

Women born 51 to 53 with over 40+ years NI and an equalisation wait of up to 3yrs and pension loss up to £19000 will be the worse cont. state pension for life of if 'lucky @' £130pw whilst women a sec younger born 6.4.53 with a 2 month uplift to ours will be in the £155 single tier at 22 months nearly 2 years before men of their exact birthdate so at a very unequal SPA to men. All men born 6.4.51 will be in the better (DWP)£155 single tier, and those that can and 95% do will go onto pension credit and then 'sail' onto the better single tier with then no MTesting or new AIP's.
Women are the poorest pensioners, with singles poorer again.
Impact Asses of Pension now Act to reduce gender inequality, however
you have intentionally created the opposite We women cannot defer not by £22K of your 3A's. Why would that be Mr Webb? that you architecture this injustice?
We women dare you to answer.
'Women live longer: the gap is closing' Women's pensions are 2:1 less than men's less of women have private of occupational pensions. Women if they do live longer lower deciles do not have more chronic health conditions.( ''T Lock you call apples to all)

Can you please tell me why you are advocating one policy for the payment of WFP at the Liberal Party Conference and another as a Minister?
I live in France and I can tell you that it is a lot colder here in Burgundy in the winter than it was in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Using winter weather figures of the overseas Departements of France to get the answer you want is not honest and you should be ashamed to be associated with such a dishonest policy.

I am already in receipt of my state pension and so will not be entitled to the new Universal Pension when this is launched. Despite working for over 40 years, I only receive a reduced pension due to paying the lower married women's national insurance contribution for part of these years. Can you imagine how disappointed and annoyed I am to find that having contributed an enormous amount in national insurance contributions, I shall still only receive £100 per week, when the new universal pension receivers will get over a third more than myself, and this will include those who have done little or no work and lived on benefits for years!

I cannot be alone as this insurance contribution was very common when I first was married in the late sixties. How can this be reasonable or equitable. I have never claimed a penny in benefits in my life.

Mr. Webb

I have no question but I will post that I totally agree with the governments decision to 'allow', a very horrible term, war widows to remarry and keep their war widows pensions.

I will start a new thread so that this one remains a question and answer thread.

I have very little to add to what Norfolksetter has already written.
But I was surprised to learn that military widows who re-marry will now be able to keep their widow's pensions. Would it be cynical to suggest that an inexpensive gesture that appeals to sentiment and patriotism is a cheaper vote winner than justice and fairness for old people who worked hard for their pensions.

I bet you were not expecting this, Lucy.

Please would you be kind enough to briefly explain what this particular clause covers? Thank you.

Dear Sir
Thank you for opening a discussion about pensions with the most relevant section of society. I wouldn't attempt to participate in a twitter bun-fight and I'm online competent and not yet 50.
I appreciate this sensible approach.

I would like a brief response advising where I could go for further advice on pensions in general since all Government and Money advice professionals say I'm in an almost unique set of circumstances.

I will give a bullet point summary of them and would appreciate your response: if permitted I would like an opportunity to further expand through email.

From start of working life never qualified to make contributions from part-te job and housewifery.

Full time later for a number of year's.

Diagnosed with an illness."Husband" self-employed.
Borderline income including small amount of working families tax credit.
Child benefit.
Partial council tax and housing benefit.
Full rate DLA both for mobility and care components.
Did not claim husband's confirmed eligible Carer's allowance (couldn't honestly say he was 24 hour because he had to keep gardening one man band going.)
He was taxed and billed for national contributions.
Arrears due to not enough actual income.
Two reassessments. Continued in this condition with occasional panicked small parts payments to an understanding and reasonable tax service who were working with us to resolve that realistically.
Eventually with lots of physically and emotionally exhausting treatments, course's, support and practical forums and a carefully managed and structured time and diet management I could earn 'pin money' selling unwanted belonging online, we had made life acceptable but realistically skint life style.

The last assessment occurred under the early changes in the benefit system. Both daughter's in full time employment and living in their own places.
I was downgraded to lowest mobility and no care component.
I appealed.
Became slightly depressed and anxious. Participated and 'graduated' top of the courses. Applied what I learnt.
Relapsed anyway

Couldn't participate in appeal. Written rebuttal to relevant parties.
Appeal refused.
Letter's and demand's poured in at a rate of knots
Demand for back-dated DLA. Not from date of appeal denial. From the date of last approved by them award. Over 4000 Pound's please in full preferably with threat of passing it to private debt collect "can result in removal of goods to settle debt.
Then;
Same from Council and landlords. 2,500_?
DWP ; 2/4000
Tax service ; 8/9000
NIC; 600
I phoned/wrote everybody explaining our income was decided by customers.
Told no deal. Tax reassessed; 500 credit applied.
Husband and family working until ill.
I'm still disabled. Not allowed to choose that category on form's unless I'm receiving DLA

Can't enrol in searching for work schemes unless I'm signing on.
Can't sign on because I'm not capable to work.
I have nervous breakdown. Hospital.Debt's everywhere. Rent arrears. Court appointed eviction. Judge suspended on condition of arrears paid along with full tent
Two month's ago. Sold two thing's on eBay.
What approach would you advise please ?

He is responsible for everything mentioned.I would be interested to see his replies, even though it does not affect me at all.
I am sure there are many expats legitimately on here.
Actually anyone can sign up, so they are obviously all legitimately on here. It's just that they only appear to be interested in themselves, not all the problems that we still living in the UK have.
He only needs to answer one of them.