Pensions

[Denisdiamond]

I am 58 years old and have been working for 42 years. How can I find out what my State Pension will be when I am 65, assuming that everything is still the same in 7 years time,i.e. retirement age, inflation, cost of living etc. Thank you.

[buildersmate]

This Government website is a good place to start your pension planning. You can ask the Pension Service for an estimate - which they base on your contributions.
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/approachin gretirement/home.asp
A couple of basic things: -
One gets one's entitlement to the Basic State Pension through minimum NI contributions paid over the years. If one doesn't have enough contribution years, one gets a proportion of the Basic State Pension.
If you had a company pension scheme at any time during your working career, that pension will provide you additional pension. The Government's pension service does not hold the records for this - you need to be talking to the pension trustees. If you were a civil servant, the Government's pension scheme for such staff is very similar to a private scheme - but run by the Government for it's employees.
If you did not have a company pension scheme (or were not a Government employee) you may have accrued an additional pension above the Basic State one. This has been called numerous things over the years - Graduated Pension way back in the 1960s and 70s. Then SERPS - State Earnings Related Pension, then the Second State Pension. The Pensions Service should have records of this 'block' of contricutions - and can provide an estaimate including them.

[Denisdiamond]

Thanks buildersmate. Great answer !!

[Lindylou]

Call into your local post office (if you still have one!) and ask for a pension forecast form. Fill it in and post it off. You should get an answer letting you know exactly what you can expect as your pension within a few working days. (Hope its more than mine...)

[Denisdiamond]

Thanks Lindylou , will do that this morning. ( If I can find a post office !! ). I did not know about these forms. By the way, buildersmate, I found that website you send me, filled out the forms and they told me ( 3 times ) that my information was incorrect, which it wasn,t ! So i gave up in the end.

[buildersmate]

That's rather worrying.
It is the Pensions Service that holds the central record of your NI and state pension inputs over the years. The information that they hold is that which will eventually be used to calculate what pension you will receive from the state. It is therefore in your interests to start the process now of getting them to put right any factual errors in your contribution record - it is likely to take them months to investigate and check - which doesn;t matter provided they sort it out before you are 65.

[Denisdiamond]

The only information they asked for and which I gave them was: my name ,date of birth and my N.I. number. And they told me that this information was incorrect !!

[buildersmate]

Sounds like you might be having an identity crisis.
That info is fundamental to pretty fundamental to finding you for many Government systems. I am sure they will sort it.

[Denisdiamond]

They did give me a link to write to if I was experiencing any problems , which I will pursue. But ,as you say, these are basic questions which should be addressed without any fuss. Thanks for your help and I will let you know if there is any progress. Denis.

[THECORBYLOON]

t's not The Pension Service that looks after the NI Contributions it''s HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC,) although it'sThe Pensions Service that'll provide the Pension Forecast.

It's not unknown for folk to have been using the wrong NI number for years but it can be tracked down and any mistakes corrected. Sometimes a person will have been unable to mind on their number when they start a new job and a new one is allocated in error. Then again it may just be that the online system is having an "off day" and is not recognising you.

If you download the paper version fill it in and post it, you may get on better.

[Denisdiamond]

Thanks for that ,thecorbyloo. Lets hope they were having an off day ! I may try that form again and see what happens.