Pension changes in the annual spending review

[BradleyC]

According to the BBC the following changes have been introduced

"The chancellor said that pension credit payments will be stopped for people who leave the country for more than one month.

At present, pension credit is paid for up to 13 weeks while claimants are temporarily abroad. If they go overseas for medical treatment under the NHS, then it is paid for longer.

The same new restriction for those going overseas will also apply to housing benefit"

Is that likely to affect anyone? I got the impression that quite a few people who were liveaboards left once they had retired. It seems to be suggesting that you can only claim pension credit if you are resident in the UK, so what will happen to all the people who are liveaboards and/or retired somewhere warmer than the UK? Are they supposed to pop back once a month????

I should add I am not of pensionable age yet so I'm not that familiar with how pension credits work, so I might have completely misunderstood this, but I thought that I would pass it on for others to comment.

 

[macd]

Not familiar with them, either, but info about them here:
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/overview

 

[BradleyC]

Thanks Mac. Found this as well

"People who go abroad for over a month will no longer be eligible for pensioners credit.

At present, housing benefit and pension credit recipients can go abroad for up to 13 weeks while continuing to receive payouts. But the spending review says: "The benefit system should not subsidise those on benefits to go abroad for extended periods: this reform will ensure the benefit system is not paying the rent of people who go abroad for more than four weeks at a time."

I just don't see how you can pay into something all your adult life and then the Government can dictate where you can retire.

 

[BradleyC]

Also found this on moneysavingexpert

Meanwhile from April 2016, recipients of pension credit and housing benefit will no longer get it if they leave Great Britain for more than four consecutive weeks – currently this cut off point is 13 consecutive weeks.

This will impact those who go on a long holiday or have a holiday home abroad. However, those who go away due to exceptional circumstances (eg, a relative's death) won't be hit, as long as they're back within 26 weeks

 

[TonyMS]

There can't be any liveabords on housing benefit, can there? And I'd have thought pension credit was unlikely too. After all, with our economical lifestyle, we live like kings on the basic pension!

Tony

 

[BradleyC]

Fair enough

 

[duncan99210]

Pension credit is a none contributory benefit aimed at helping those at the bottom of the income scale. It is a welfare benefit designed to be paid to those living in the UK, along with other residence based benefits such as housing benefit. So, you haven't 'paid into' the benefit only to be told you can't have it because you chose to live overseas. Oh, and when the new pension system comes in from next year, the benefit will gradually disappear.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

This isn't State Pension; it's a Tax Credit to boost the income of people with no other pension

 

[BradleyC]

Thanks to the wiser heads than mine for clarifying this one

Cheers!

 

[srm]

Incidentally, we are also supposed to loose the annual increments on state pension if living outside EU and a few other countries for more than 6 months, as that marks an end to UK residence. (Rules seem complicated but summary came with initial state pension notification) One answer may be to keep a UK bank account for your pension to be paid into, pay UK tax, and keep quiet about your travels.

 

[Birdseye]

I just don't see how you can pay into something all your adult life and then the Government can dictate where you can retire.

When will some people understand that this isnt the case. Any taxes you have paid so far have gone to pay the pensions of those already retired. There is no fund. You havent "paid into" anything. You've simply been taxed.

 

[macd]

When will some people understand that this isnt the case. Any taxes you have paid so far have gone to pay the pensions of those already retired. There is no fund. You havent "paid into" anything. You've simply been taxed.

Ah, but when he instituted state pensions, Lloyd George fully intended that they would evolve into a self-sustaining fund. I know this, obviously, because he knew my father.
Unfortunately it never happened.

The anomally in all this was heating allowance (to which I'm not entitled, as it happens): not linked to whereabouts, nor need: just paid to everyone incuding UK yacthies in the Red Sea, where pensioners routinely freeze to death in their beds. Fact is, the whole shooting-match is just not joined-up thinking. I blame Hoc. He has a lot to answer for.

 

[Tony Cross]

When will some people understand that this isnt the case. Any taxes you have paid so far have gone to pay the pensions of those already retired. There is no fund. You havent "paid into" anything. You've simply been taxed.

Whilst this is perfectly true there is an implied 'contract' between the State and the newly employed that says that if you pay the State extra taxes to pay the pensions of the retired you will also get a pension paid for by the taxes of those still working. This means that any major changes to State Pensions have to be phased in over the working life of people. It is grossly unfair to expect people to pay extra taxes to pay the pensions of the retired only to find that when they retire the rules have changed.

 

[[2574]]

It is grossly unfair to expect people to pay extra taxes to pay the pensions of the retired only to find that when they retire the rules have changed.

And political suicide.