How to give your pension a post-coronavirus check up

There should be few cases when people of working age are not earning state pension credits, says our expert Steve Webb.

My question is can I take the full amount out without incurring costs, or am I best leaving it with the company until I am 60?

Our research shows that customers of both Barclays and Tesco Bank can get £500 sent to their homes via Royal Mail special delivery – at no cost. NatWest also offers a cash-to-home service.

Businesses could have to redo their sums for savers who transferred out of their pension schemes as well as those who stayed, following the latest ruling in a complex court saga.

Tens of thousands of elderly women could be owed an estimated £100m in state pension after a major blunder, which was uncovered by Steve Webb and This is Money.

Grandparents have four grandchildren on average, so they could spend about £416 or an estimated £2.4bn in total, according to the research from insurer SunLife.

Penny Loseby, 71, pictured below with husband Paul, missed out on £16,000 over seven years. When she tried to dispute her low payments, she was ignored or fobbed off on repeated occasions.

Comparing September with April this year – when a strict lockdown was in place across the UK – the Association of British Insurers found a sharp increase in people dipping into their pension pots.

Don Forsyth, 61, wants to unlock the money tied up in an old pension. But because it comes with valuable guarantees and is worth more than £30,000 it needs a financial adviser to sign off.

If I make voluntary payments, are these counted as the same value as those taken from employment when working out pension entitlement and whether a record is counted as ‘full’?

The Fossil Fuel Free plan will exclude companies with oil, gas or coal reserves, as well as tobacco companies and manufacturers of controversial weapons.

Do you know what all your pension pots are worth? Are you confident you’ve not lost track of one? If the answer to both questions is ‘yes’, congratulations – you’re doing better than most.

It has been a tough year for grandparents, with lockdowns and social distancing keeping millions away from loved ones. But they can still help out, and help themselves at the same time.

There are several ways to increase state pension entitlement – some for those who have already passed state retirement age and others for those below age 66. Many of them cost nothing.

‘Clone’ alerts by regulators have jumped 34 per cent to 401 so far this year, and 261 per cent since 2015 – and they currently make up two fifths of all fraud warnings issued by the City regulator.

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.

I asked for a copy of the ‘deferred payment arrangement’ but it’s unsigned. The council has not formally asked for payment. Lawyer James Urquhart-Burton replies.

Some 59 per cent of women and 60 per cent of men are now putting 12 per cent of their income into a pension, a level considered ‘adequate’ for a relatively comfortable old age.

The Mail on Sunday has produced an essential guide for people aged 55 or over who are looking to unlock cash from their homes to boost their finances.

At least 15,000 sick and elderly Britons have been wrongly denied around £300m in support, research shows. It means thousands could be needlessly selling their homes to pay for care.

My husband says I need to reduce the offsetting figure during our divorce as he wishes to draw down all his pension at 55, although he will continue to work and he was 53 when we split due to his adultery.

The decline in pension saving will raise fears that millions of workers could be forced to delay retirement as they struggle to put away adequate savings for later life.

For a number of years now the Pension Protection Fund has paid my pension since my former employer folded. But why has my pension been frozen at the same level as when they took over?

Contribution levels are static among people in their 20s, and have dropped slightly among the over-55s, a new study of pension saving habits among Interactive Investor users reveals.

Some 1,900 women so far are confirmed to have lost out on state pension in a scandal we uncovered. Blunders were detected in one in four of the 7,200 claims dealt with to date by the DWP.

A growing number of over-60s like Charita Jones (pictured) are embracing the earning potential of the internet by making videos about their hobbies – and attracting millions of followers.

The pandemic has caused much financial hardship, pushing many to dip into their pension funds. Latest figures show a rise in the number of people doing just that over the past three months.

I worked for Tetley (of tea bags fame) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. When I left I withdrew my pension fund, amounting to some £300 or so. A few weeks ago I got a letter, supposedly from L&G.

Direct Line says it received 288 claims over lockdown, each worth an average of £1,628. And Aviva reported a 400 per cent increase in claims for lost and damaged hearing aids between April and July.

The scandal relates to women who reached state pension age before April 2016 and are entitled to receive a rate based on their husband’s National Insurance record.

One in three over-55s would retire early if made redundant during the Covid-19 crisis, amid signs the pandemic is making people reassess their health and working life.

We have been told that because my pension is £178.64 weekly and my wife’s jobseeker’s allowance is £74.35 we cannot claim universal credit as the monthly income is too high.

Over-75s are being reassured they can buy a TV licence without leaving home during the pandemic, after it emerged some felt they needed to post forms or get documents photocopied.

The pension dashboard scheme was originally supposed to be launched in 2019 with the aim of helping millions of people rediscover lost pension pots in an age when many have multiple jobs.

Markets plunged following the death of your father in December. Aviva says life policy calculation is made from written notification date – but you say need to write in was not mentioned when you rang up.

After my husband died, I received part of his pension. Before this, my pensions were very small, so I had not paid tax since I retired. I have now received a number of demands from the taxman.

Many women spend much of their lives working part-time to juggle caring responsibilities for children and other family members, and so make smaller pension contributions.

The current means-tested system is unfair, confusing, demeaning and ‘frightening for the most vulnerable people in our society, and their families’, according to the health and social care committee.

Does looking after them after school and when they cannot attend nursery or school and during school holidays count?

Insurance provider Pension Insurance Corporation has agreed to buy out the Old British Steel Pension Scheme and take responsibility for more than 30,000 workers’s retirement funds.

Bill McGregor, 71, from Dundee, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January last year. He had surgery to remove his prostate, but the cancer has now spread to lymph nodes in his pelvis.

The triple lock means annual state pension rises are decided by whatever is the highest of price inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent.

‘Last year more than half of those still at work thought their lifestyle would improve when they retired. This year that number has halved,’ says Interactive Investor, of its survey of 12,000 adults.

A quarter of savers have stopped or cut back on paying into their pensions during the Covid-19 crisis and more are considering doing so, new research reveals.

As part of This is Money’s greener finance series, we asked Diandra Soobiah, Nest’s head of responsible investment, to reveal why cutting carbon is the right thing to do to protect people’s pensions.

Figures out on Wednesday are expected to show consumer price inflation rose to 0.4 per cent in September – up from 0.2 per cent in August but well below the triple lock.

When the pension transferred to Standard Life I was told in the documentation that I have a protected minimum pension age that means that I can retire from the scheme from age 50.

A tax flaw means an estimated 1.5million poorly paid staff lose Government payments into their pensions, depending on the type of scheme operated by their employer.

The Department for Work and Pensions, which recently promised that staff training was being stepped up, is under cross-party political pressure to address state pension failures.

As we store more of our lives online, including money and possessions, our wills have to reflect this too. So to help you put your affairs in order, here’s our guide to writing a will in the modern age.

The four years when I was in full time education from 1976 to 1980 have not been counted and it is too late to buy these back. The year prior to that when I was in the sixth form has actually been counted.

The task should be easier than six months ago. For witnesses – needed to make a will legally binding – can now observe the rituals of law via a video call.

Commission-free share investing platform Freetrade will launch a self-invested personal pension in December this year, This is Money can reveal.

A married woman is entitled to the equivalent of 60 per cent of their husband’s basic rate if they reached state pension age before April 2016. Yet a divorcee can claim up to 100 per cent.

Pensions minister Guy Opperman needs to wake up to the fact that hundreds of thousands of women are missing out on millions of pounds in retirement on his watch.

Increased unemployment and caring responsibilities among older people during the Covid-19 pandemic mean the idea should be looked at again, say some pension experts.

Next January my company is winding up its pension fund and transferring all my benefits to Aviva. Is this an opportunity for me to take my pension pot and use drawdown or will this not be allowed?

Aviva is the second major pension provider to declare a new strategy to combat global warning, following an announcement by state-backed pension provider Nest over the summer.

The new state pension age of 66, which kicks in next Tuesday, applies to anyone born after 5 October 1954. The full rate is currently £175.20 a week, or around £9,100 a year.

My sister and I have had lasting power of attorney for our father for a number of years. He was diagnosed with dementia in March and has signed another LPA that he doesn’t remember doing.

We explain changes to the state pension age, so you can find out when you will be allowed to retire

The competition watchdog launched a review of the £2 billion-a-year funeral sector in 2018 and recently ordered firms to be more transparent. But firms are still tricking the bereaved from their cash.

Thousands of women left poorer by the rise in state pension age had invested their hopes and money in a court victory that would see them receive their state pension backdated to the age of 60.

One in three older people leave retirement planning until two years before stopping work or don’t prepare at all, new research has found.

My company is in the process of starting salary pension exchange. I am 63 in December and my works pension finishes at 65, so is it worth joining? Steve Webb explains how salary sacrifice works…

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.

I am 64 and don’t get my state pension until I am 66. Will I be entitled to my late husband’s state pension or have I been cheated out of that the way I have been cheated out of my state pension?

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.

I am struggling to understand why she can’t get a subsistence payment to cover mortgage/rent, food and basic living needs? Does the government want her to be homeless and out of work?

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.

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.

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.

I believe he has had similar working years as myself but I believe I will have paid more National Insurance as I will have earned more.

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.

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.

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.

I’m 39 and I’ve paid into my pension for years. I have over £18,000 in my pot but I’ve recently been made redundant. I’ve got a lot of debt that needs to be paid. Is it possible to use this money to pay it off?

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.

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.

The company is proposing a pay cut of 22%. I was wondering how this will affect my pension pot as I only have another four years of contributions left.

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 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.

A lasting power of attorney is a vital document that appoints an individual to manage your affairs if you are unable to. But the current paper-based process means it can take weeks to organise.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

I feel aggrieved my inheritance is going to be £25k while my brother will likely get £975k from my father in addition to the £4m in properties he’s already received.

As the executor I’m a bit concerned that we may be breaking the law if he starts the work before probate is granted. What should we do? Lawyer James Beresford, pictured, replies.

If I accept my husband’s offer I would have less than half of the income that he is receiving, along with a five-year wait for my state pension. Lawyer Fiona Wood, pictured left, replies.

I am 84 years of age, healthy and fit for my age. I have given my son a will drawn up by a solicitor. He inherits all my assets. He wants to have a power of attorney document drawn up. Please advise.

In a stinging report, tax officials said people ‘can easily disadvantage themselves’ in a system that ‘appears illogical’, and told the Government to find a way to restore lost credits to parents.

There are many legal ways to dodge the dreaded 40 per cent ‘death tax’ if you want to pass on the maximum sum possible and are prepared to plan ahead.

Thousands are facing a poorer retirement as a result of innocent mistakes over paperwork. Nandia Needham, pictured with husband Martin, could be £20k out of pocket over a 20-year retirement.

The couple managed to convince HMRC they were unaware his filling in the child benefit form could result in her losing state pension in old age, in a case that could help many other parents.

It may not seem like a grand romantic gesture, but making sure your spouse is financially comfortable in retirement, will go a long way towards securing your future happiness together.

Hoard your pension and spend other cash and investments first, to keep your money away from the taxman. That’s the advice experts are dishing out to retirees worried about inheritance tax.

Elderly investors have to balance the need to make withdrawals yet keep a pot as intact as possible – whether to avoid running out of money or bequeath a pension to loved ones.

Grappling with the benefits monster can be daunting, particularly for those struggling with common side effects such as nausea, fatigue and chemo brain so here’s everything you need to know.

Pension freedoms mean retirees can now invest their savings how they like rather than buy a stingy annuity. But what do you need to consider and plan ahead for when funding retirement this way?

Many people put off thinking about their mortality. But there is vital paperwork to sort out before your time comes to an end.

Death is unavoidable – but the way we are laid to rest is still largely in our control. We examine the key decisions you need to make on a funeral.

With-profits policyholders often face an impossible choice about when to take their benefits. Turn down today’s offer and tomorrow’s may be lower. How can you decide when it’s time to leave?

Pension freedom reforms will give people more decision-making power over their retirement savings. But as ever, the more you have, the more freedom you will enjoy.

The rise of DIY online investing has transformed the way people are able to save for retirement, but navigating the maze of Sipp charges can be a tricky task.

If you signed up to a work pension scheme but took no further action, your savings are most likely in a ‘default’ investment fund. How do you check if it’s any good?