How to give your pension a post-coronavirus check up

Former Pensions Minister Steve is This is Money’s Agony Uncle. Here’s where you can check out all his previous columns to see if any involve issues affecting you.

Pension age deadlines are more fluid as older people have gained greater control over retirement dates and finances – but some birthdays are still markers for decisions and action.

Former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann argues the Government may have misled many women and caused them hardship, but this may be due to maladministration rather than discrimination.

The pension industry is now warning that in the wake of pension freedoms reforms, savings worth £2.5 trillion are exposed to scammers because vital protections are not in place.

Labour MPs pressed the Government to reveal the scale of its probe, how many women are being paid incorrectly and when they would all receive their money.

More than 1,600 people have already signed the petition, which urges the Department for Work and Pensions to carry out a full trawl covering older wives, widows and deceased women.

We decided we’d get married this year. Of course, Covid 19 happened so all was put on hold and my partner died very unexpectedly in April.

People who make a will appoint one or more executors to apply for probate and divide up an estate, but where no one was selected to carry out this task it can lead to a power struggle.

Pausing contributions can blow a hole in retirement pots, with a 30-year-old earning £30,000 standing to lose more than £45,000 by opting out of pension auto enrolment for three years.

As the government prepares to turn off the furlough taps and withdraw its other coronavirus support schemes, perhaps it might be time to start thinking about your finances again.

Savers looking to ditch final salary pensions could be at heightened risk of moving to suspicious schemes during the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently savers can access their private pension at 55 – ten years before their state pension. However new rules will force anyone now aged 47 or younger to wait an additional two years.

My ex-husband contacted me recently because he intends to take advantage of the change in UK pension law, to allow him to withdraw 25% now and the balance in monthly or yearly payments.

A report published today calls for employers to provide greater assistance to those workers who want to transfer their ‘defined benefit’ pension plan into a scheme that they can manage themselves.

Many elderly people will be initially contacted via post this month informing them they have to pay the full licence fee from the start of last month.

The Government confirmed that from 2028 the age at which people can access their pension money will rise from 55 to 57 – but it may go higher still.

Grandfather of seven Peter Bull, 66, (pictured) who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015, is unlikely ever to receive his £150,000 payout from Aviva after his claim was rejected.

Baroness Ros Altmann is calling for more fairness from town halls after we uncovered dozens of cases where grieving families had been hit with unexpected council tax bills.

Only 55 per cent of adults plan to split their wealth equally among their children when they die, new findings from wealth management company Charles Stanley have revealed.

The future of the ‘triple lock’ that guarantees an annual state pension increase of at least 2.5 per cent is rumoured to have caused a rift at the top of the Government.

My brother and I are left equal shares of his house, but on my father’s death the property is held in trust with the condition that my brother can live there indefinitely, rent free and cannot be evicted.

I am still a carer for my husband, but no longer get carer’s allowance because I’m now receiving my state pension. What difference does my age make to it? We all still have to care for people.

Men in their 50s, who are the ‘average victim’ of pension scammers, are being urged to show them the red card by the veteran voice of football commentary.

Our life insurance policies both mature in 2029 and have no renewal options. A new policy is too expensive – what options do we have?

Just a fifth of women in the UK are aware that their pension savings are invested in the stock market, the hargreaves Lansdown survey reveals.

This is Money can reveal the Royal London Pension Property Fund has agreed to provide funds for Audley Group’s Wycliffe Park development, a 25-acre site at Horsleys Green in Bucks.

Rishi Sunak is said to be concerned by the ‘anomaly’ of the mechanism used to calculate state pensions and is looking to either reform or scrap it in an autumn budget.

Robert Blake, 62, had grilled Government staff on whether filling a four-year gap in his payment record would improve his pension before handing over any cash, but still fell foul of the baffling system.

The Retail Price Index directly affects the finances of millions as it is used as a peg for pensions, investments, rail fares and interest payments on student loans.

Kathleen Brennan, 73, will not be asked to return the huge payout, the Government has confirmed. She had just lodged an Ombudsman complaint after only receiving £1,300.

I brought up my children from our marriage single-handed all those years with no assistance financially or otherwise and can’t help but feel this is unfair.

Should someone refuse to be your executor you might have to change your will, and pay an amendment fee to do so.

Savers are typically told to beware that HMRC will look askance if they transfer out of a final salary pension while in poor health and die in two years, and could decide to levy inheritance tax.

Under 10 per cent of those aged 70 and over saying they have been hit. Yet almost 40 per cent of adults aged 30 -59 have been affected

Savers who were set to retire may have had to reconsider as pension pots saw their worst quarterly performance on record in the first three months of 2020.

A selection of Steve’s top columns can help you avoid being scammed, understand the mysteries of the new state pension, and gain peace of mind by making the most of your pension savings.

It is very refreshing for me to see reader questions every week and be reminded of the features of the pension system which people regularly find confusing, says the former Pensions Minister.

We take a look at Steve’s most influential campaigns, including how they began and what has happened since to lift people’s fortunes or improve the way they are treated.

Institutions across the pensions industry have been telling clients to pay stamp duty when transferring property from multiple owners into Sipps or SSAS pensions.

The Competition and Markets Authority said Covid-19 had forced it to abandon most of its radical plans for change which could have seen the introduction of price caps on funerals.

A council tax bill landing on the doorstep of my late father’s empty property was one of the last things I expected during the pandemic. But it turns out that empathy is currently in short supply at town halls.

Pay cuts, redundancy and worries over job security have forced workers of all ages to consider whether they can still afford to put money in their pension.

Mothers bringing up children alone tend to be employed in low-paid part-time roles that fit around childcare and offer less chance to save for a comfortable old age.

Now work pensions are mandatory, could taking a low-paid or part-time job lead to me breaching the terms of my lifetime allowance protection and incurring a tax bill?

Around one in three would-be expats are having a rethink because of the Covid-19 crisis, as the pandemic looks to be worsening again in many countries, according to the survey by Canada Life.

Anne Psaros, 79, was delighted to be handed £11,600 after realising that the DWP had failed to upgrade her pension to the married woman’s rate.

BP is the latest FTSE 100 giant to cut its dividend – the first time in a decade – as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. With payouts significantly slashed, where can income investors go next?

Married women who retired on small state pensions before April 2016 should get an uplift to 60 per cent of their husband’s payments once he reaches retirement age too.

Coronavirus has given many people a reason to talk about passing down wealth. Here are some practical tips to ensure you aren’t left short if gifting money to your children or grandchildren.

Audrey Watson, pictured with husband Brian, who received a 12-month backpayment of £1,500 despite being underpaid for 13 years, is protesting to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Bereaved families are being stung by thousands of pounds in hidden fees for selling a deceased relative’s retirement home because a Government crackdown has been delayed.

James Urquhart-Burton, partner at Ridley & Hall Solicitors and an expert in care funding, explains how to make an application for yourself, or a loved one.

James Urquhart-Burton, partner at Ridley & Hall Solicitors and an expert in care funding, lays out the potential grounds for objecting to an NHS refusal and how to make a successful appeal.

With the Government’s furloughing scheme alone costing over £30bn to date, Chancellor Rishi Sunak could have an inheritance tax hike in his sights at this year’s Autumn Budget.

The Government plans to legalise the remote witnessing of wills and backdate the measure to 31 January – the day the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the UK.

‘No-one wants to save throughout their life to retire into a world devastated by climate change,’ says Mark Fawcett, chief investment officer of Nest.

The payment to Barbara Cornish, pictured with her late husband John, is the latest to emerge in the scandal of elderly women missing out on state pension uncovered by This is Money.

All over-40s could be asked to pay more tax to help fund the cost of their care in later life under radical plans being discussed by ministers.

The virus could wipe one year off Britons’ typical life expectancy. And because people may die earlier than expected, pension schemes will not have to pay out as much as previously thought.

The Government is to legalise the remote witnessing of wills to make it easier for people to record their final wishes during the coronavirus pandemic. The law will be backdated to January 31.

The UK workforce is forecast to have 27m inactive small pots by 2015, a number that a new study suggests will become unsustainable because of a double blow on charges.

The BBC has announced that free licences for all but the most vulnerable over-75s will be scrapped from next month. The move was delayed by two months due to the pandemic.

Around 13,000 former officers receive injury pensions that are paid on top of their police pensions These are paid for life – but only if an officer can no longer work owing to harm suffered in the job.

Critics have long demanded action over a tax flaw which means some poorly paid staff lose payments into pension pots, depending on the type of scheme operated by their employer.

Holders currently use a paper process to prove their status to banks, healthcare providers, businesses and other organisations, but this can take weeks.

The Public Accounts Committee said the Government did not understand the impact of pension tax breaks, including the differing rates of relief on contributions.

Stephen O’Loughlin, pictured, whose state pension was bungled twice over and then had his complaint ignored, has received an apology from the Government.

Three million workers could get a boost to their pension as a result of the blunder, which led to a successful legal challenge in late 2018.

People anticipate an inheritance of £78,000 on average from their parents, much less than the £124,000 they are likely to receive.

Disabled and traumatised former officers are being hauled before medical review panels in ‘unlawful’ attempts to cut their pension packets, campaigners claim.

My husband assumed I would be awarded some of the ‘state earnings-related pension’ into my widow’s pension and telephoned the DWP several times to check this out.

Tens of thousands of women are owed a fortune in lost state pension due to a massive blunder uncovered by This is Money, and we understand an official investigation is now under way.

Over-75s must start buying £157.50 annual TV licences , but are being told to wait for a letter before doing anything – and meanwhile the poorest pensioners will still get them for free.

There is already a financial incentive to get care at home if you can, because people’s properties are excluded from means tests until they move to residential care accommodation.

‘Labour wants to know how many women have been affected, who they are and how the Government plans to contact them all,’ says Shadow Pensions Minister Jack Dromey.

When women became eligible to a state pension worth 60 per cent of their husband’s, the information was not sent to them, but included in the pack sent to their husband.

Many believe that the coronavirus lockdown will trigger a rise in divorce rates, and are only gifting small amounts or giving directly to their grandchildren.

Women who split up with their husbands reach retirement with savings of around £26,100, while divorced men have £103,500 by the time they stop work.

Thousands of savers have used lockdown to get their old pension pots working for them again. Pension platforms have reported a rise in people taking control of how their savings are invested.

Senior staff at our firm were asked to take pay cuts of up to 20 per cent. What happens to my pension contributions on which I was benefiting from higher rate relief?

Labour urged Pensions Minister Guy Opperman to launch a full investigation, and to find and pay women affected by the Government blunder what they are due.

Interactive Investor, the low-cost provider, says four of the top five most common transfers into its pension account this year have been from insurance company brands that are typically more expensive.

The Government is being pressed not to ‘add insult to injury’ by landing women with unfair tax bills. Denyse Vallender, pictured with husband David, was handed £21,700 due to Government bungling.

Heather Rogers, pictured, founder and owner of Aston Accountancy, explains what women receiving thousands of pounds in state pension arrears should tell the taxman.

The FCA proposes tightening up rules on assessing value for money, including laying down standardised tests on charges and costs, investment performance and quality of service.

The sharp increase reveals many older workers are struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic, and follows recent surveys showing many might delay retirement.

Over the years, our father made five wills. He did not include our sister in any of them. He changed his will yet again, within months of her turning up after many years, and we are not in it.

We know high charges eat returns when investing for retirement, but do investors pay enough attention when it comes to drawing on their pension?

Self-employed Jude Hough (pictured) who was planning to stop working at 55. She estimates retirement is now at least ten years away because of the impact of lockdown.

The damage is causing many to rethink their plans, even younger workers who have plenty of time to recover investment losses, according to an Aegon study.

We explain how pensions are treated while people are furloughed, including what happens if you are in your employer’s ‘salary sacrifice’ scheme.

Lawyers are raising the alarm about banks releasing vast sums to bereaved relatives who have no legal authority over a loved one’s finances.

A grant of probate is the official document families need to take control of a loved one’s estate when they die and execute their will. Applications should usually take ten days.

The Labour Party and influential pension experts are demanding action to address an estimated £100m shortfall in payments. Carole Graham, pictured with husband Stephen, got £8,600.

A new ‘advice checker’ sets out the correct process to be followed, and explains how to complain and take your case to the ombudsman if you got poor treatment from a financial adviser.

Many people shun financial advice because they don’t believe they are wealthy enough or that they need it, according to a study by pension firm Aegon.

The BBC postponed axing the perk due to the coronavirus outbreak, after the Government withdrew funding for it starting this month, but the extension ends on August 1.

Some 17% of adults anticipate getting a significant sum, and nearly two thirds of them are relying on it despite the risk it might materialise late or never, or be smaller than they hope.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme said it would divest from tobacco businesses, firms that get more than 25 per cent of their revenues from thermal coal mining and certain arms firms.

Campaigners are calling for the Department for Work and Pensions to conduct a full investigation into how many women have missed out on their pensions and how it was allowed to happen.

It is shameful that retired women are being forced to fight hard to get the state pension they deserve. It is estimated these wives, widows and divorcees may now be owed up to £100m in lost income.

Around 130,000 married women could be missing out on a bigger state pension, an investigation has revealed. It is feared that older married women may be owed up to £100million.

The DWP is accused of ‘shocking’ treatment of Rosemary Chattell, pictured left, who lives in a Cheshire care home and is unaware she has been handed the vast sum.

Many grandparents get credits for providing childcare. But normal arrangements have been upended by restrictions to safeguard elderly people and halt the spread of Covid-19.

I want to make sure my late mum’s house passes to me, as the quid pro quo for allowing him to stay there without paying anything. Helen Taylor, of Franklins Solicitors, replies

The Government has announced new applicants will have to use a bank account, or a special scheme called the HMG Payment Exception Service if they can’t open one, to get their money.

In recent weeks, Steve Webb and This is Money have uncovered a Government blunder which has led to numerous women missing out on thousands of pounds in state pension.

Experts fear many savers could resort to dipping into their pension pots early. But doing so could mean they will only be allowed to put £4,000 a year back into a pension without leading to a tax bill.

Elderly people could feel forced to sell their homes or enter into costly equity release schemes because they are unaware of the option to set up a ‘deferred payment agreement’, claims law firm Nockolds.

It’s a bitter irony that the women contacting us about this are 70 and above, the age group most tragically afflicted and threatened by the coronovirus.

RAF veteran Alan Fowler, 72, (pictured with his wife Lynda) has an annuity from Legal & General paying a pittance but it refused his pleas for a lump sum.

Sainsbury’s customer Rose Knight, from Surrey, who drove ambulances during World War II air raids, has been unable get food dropped off at her home, despite frequent attempts.

It is still unclear how errors were made in so many cases. And our new cases reveal a scandalous level of incompetence by the DWP when people approach it for help on their own.

Any saver expressing interest in ditching a final salary pension is to be warned off in a letter telling them it’s unlikely to be in their best interests.

The only item in the will is his house, which will be split 50/50 between my brother and I anyway. There’s nothing underhand going on in any way. Lawyer Jane Sutherland of Nelsons, pictured, replies.

Older people who are anxious about their pensions or other finances can book a ‘no strings attached’ call with a regulated financial adviser.

We separated 20 years ago. I am about to inherit from an estate and have a small private pension and a full state pension. Can my wife claim on them? Lawyer Lisa Pepper, of Osbornes Law, replies.

Registering lasting power of attorney might start taking longer than the usual eight weeks during the current crisis, but official oversight body suggests some temporary workarounds.

Many savers have ditched these generous guaranteed pensions in recent years, often tempted by huge transfer value offers. We reveal six things you must consider if you’re tempted.

So far they have cheated victims out of £2 million, using the fear of Covid-19 to launch a wave of scams that experts describe as ‘sick’. We advise you on how to thwart the fraudsters.

No frills cremations cost around £1,600 on average, and ashes are returned to a family afterwards, allowing them to organise a personal memorial at a time of their choosing.

The guarantee should be abandoned to ensure the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis is fair to working-age households, says the Social Market Foundation.

Morten Nilsson said switching billions of index-linked government bonds it held from the Retail Prices Index to CPIH would cost it at least £1billion, due to a fall in the value of the bonds.

Tom Selby, a senior analyst at financial services firm AJ Bell, explains how first-timers and experienced investors can avoid unnecessary losses and big tax bills

‘Going through my 91-year-old uncle’s paperwork for him, I found he had signed up for Equitable Lifecare funeral plan in 2016, and has been paying £41 a month – £492 a year – since then.’

Savers who are under financial pressure or have lost jobs should beware scammers tempting them to tap pension pots early or switch them into higher risk investments.

The number of families claiming child benefit has plunged by 44,000 to 7.28m over a year, and has fallen by well over half a million since 2012.

Younger savers will have decades to recoup pension losses, but those close to retirement have tough decisions to make.

Demand for wills is surging, understandably in the midst of a grave health crisis. Lawyers explain how to get a will properly signed while not endangering yourself or others.

A probe is now under way into the failure, which went unnoticed for more than a decade until discovered by our pensions columnist Steve Webb and This is Money.

Following the closure of millions of businesses due to the coronavirus, many firms are looking to do all they can to hang on to cash reserves to help them through the difficult time ahead.

With fear about coronavirus gripping the country, demand for wills is soaring. Law firms say they are seeing jumps in requests ranging between 30 and 70% compared with normal business.

We explain how you can mitigate the fallout from reducing or ending pension contributions for a time. Don’t panic, stay vigilant against scams, and keep paying in if you can afford it.

Barry O’Dwyer, chief exec of insurer Royal London, said the catastrophic rout caused by the coronavirus could mean some people nearing retirement age no longer have enough money left to live off.

We explain the challenges of staying invested during retirement, and offer a checklist on what to do in a market meltdown.

The Government’s move means most doctors will no longer be hit by tax bills due to the hated ‘taper’ – but it shunned widespread calls to abolish the complicated pension tax rule altogether.

Anyone aged 47 or under must plan ahead if they want to retire earlier than 57, or will need cash for other purposes like paying off mortgages, home renovations or university fees for their children.

Whilst I fully understand the risk of my investments, I was not aware I could lose the pension if the platform company failed. Is this really the case? What are the dangers investors need to know about?

According to the Office for National Statistics, 11 per cent of private sector workers who have a pension are in a generous final salary scheme. This compares to 92 per cent in the public sector.

The pension incomes of Britain’s richest retirees are now 17 times higher than those of the poorest as the gap between the two has nearly doubled over the past decade.

The £980 cremation service is aimed at people wanting a budget or unconventional send-off for loved ones. Ashes are returned to a family, who can then mark a death at an affordable price.

Pension credit is a benefit for the poorest pensioners, and a surge in applications is likely to be underway due to the decision to means test pensioners for the free TV licence.

A ‘tipping point’ will be reached where older people are unable to afford care, councils lack funding, and care homes don’t have enough room to meet demand, warns the ‘Elderly Care Crisis’ report.

After the failure by UK authorities to take action, campaigners have launched a private prosecution on the Costa Blanca where many of the rogue schemes now operate.

Five years after the introduction of pension freedoms, the Association of British Insurers is warning that many middle-aged savers may not be doing what’s best with their pension pots.

My father, 92, was admitted to a dementia care home last September. I have Lasting Power of Attorney. I rang TalkTalk to cancel his account but they refused because I wasn’t the account holder.

There are 18 providers offering 74 deals – up from just 36 this time last year. The average interest rate charged has fallen slightly from 3.5 per cent to 3.47 per cent , according to moneyfacts.co.uk.

‘Cash today, poverty tomorrow must be avoided, as large withdrawals from pension pots could mean later life hardship for many,’ says the Association of British Insurers.

If the new Chancellor Rishi Sunak wants to appeal to Tory voters in the shires and the new converts in the Red Wall seats of the North, he should use his first Budget to end the war of attrition on savers.

What is to stop my ex-husband converting everything to useless shares that are falling in value? Barrister Rhys Taylor explains how pensions are handled when couples divorce.