Pensions Over 60? Don't miss out on extra cash
01/09/2008
Older people are being urged to claim Pension Credit while they may still be able to benefit from up to a year’s backdated lump sum. Many over 60s are still not claiming benefits they may be entitled to and are missing out on additional help - as many as 1.8 million households.
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Check your tax - you could be in for a rebate
Pensioners on low incomes may find that their usual payment on or after September 7th may be larger than usual - by about £60. It is NOT a mistake.
Pension Credit - claim it or lose it
Pensioners have just weeks left to apply for backdated pension credit payments spanning a year. If they miss the October 6th deadline, their claims can only go back three months, NOT the full twelve months - because the Pension Service have changed the rules.
Sipps can hold protected rights from October, announces O'Brien
Investors are to have more choice from October, following changes to pensions rules - allowing protected rights to be held in Self-Invested Personal Pensions (Sipps).
Fight goes on for women's pension rights
Regular MT readers will know that Lib Dem MP Steve Webb has been battling for better pension rights for women - here he reports how our readers are helping to bring about improvements for all.
Court of Appeal pensions test case: "damning verdict against the Government"
Three Court of Appeal judges have delivered a crushing verdict against the Government on their treatment of 125,000 people who were misled about the safety of their pensions. The Secretary of State's appeal against last year's High Court judicial review ruling that 'no reasonable Secretary of State could rationally disagree' with the Ombudsman, was dismissed.
Got a personal pension? Then join in the live webchat on October 1st
Do you have a personal pension? Are you one of the eight million who have contracted out of S2P (or SERPS as it used to be known) over the past twenty years? If the answers are 'yes' then you should be marking October 1st in your diary - because this is the day the government will give you the freedom to take greater control over planning for your retirement.
Pension expert Hannah Edwards joins Glenn Thompsett live online on Wednesday October 1st at 1700 to answer your pension queries.
Join today's live webchat and have your pension questions answered
Need some pension advice? Then join our live webchat on Wednesday 6th August at 1pm.
Whether it’s how much your employer should be contributing, how much the average 50 year old should be putting aside and what is a SIPP - Ian Naismith, Head of Pensions Market Development, Scottish Widows will be able to answer all of these questions and more.
More closures for pension schemes predicted
The latest annual survey of UK pensions schemes by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has revealed that, despite a new equilibrium after many years of change, more final-salary pension schemes are likely to close to new members in the next five years.
Are you claiming all the benefits you are due?
Billions of pounds in benefits go unclaimed each year by older people - often because the “system” seems confusing and demeaning. MT‘s “Benefits Doctor” Lee Healey is here to help!
Pension alert over Christmas
Help The Aged has warned that thousands of older people may struggle to get hold of their weekly pension over the Christmas period because of a payment decision by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
People who collect their pension from the local post office will only have until 12.30pm on Christmas Eve (December 24th) to collect their payments instead of the usual Monday to Wednesday.
£26 million pensioner benefits blunder - but they can keep the money
The Department of Work and pensions (DWP) has revealed that it has paid out £26 million of taxpayers' money to elderly disabled pensioners in a benefits blunder. The Government has said that "because the recipients are elderly and disabled" they will not have to pay it back... but is this as generous as it sounds?
UK State Pensioners are the poorest in Europe
New research shows that an average worker retiring this year will receive a State pension worth just 17% of their salary, compared with an EU average of 57%. However, Pensions reform minister, Mike O'Brien, defends the UK system.
Pensions legislation has a nasty sting in the tail
Well off retired Brits who do not take available tax free cash or income from what they consider to be surplus pension funds, could inadvertently be lining the Treasury’s pockets - simply by not being aware of and guarding against Gordon Brown's new taxes, of up to 82%, on residual Alternatively Secured Pension (ASP) funds on death.
Money's too tight to pension
New research has shown that over 1.5 million of those aged 55 and over simply can’t afford to retire, and one in four (26%) say that as things currently stand they will retire later than the current state retirement age - 65 for a man and 60 for a woman.
