State Retirement Pension
 

DWP just wrote to tell me my pension is now £143.91 weekly. Thanks to Attendance Allowance, Disability Premium and Housing Benefit it is boosted to a level that allows me to survive in my dotage. Concessionart Travel plus NHS are also a boon.

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

Good to know all those years of paying tax weren’t wasted after all!

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Paying National Insurance is what gets the Pension. Tax just goes to fund foreign wars and gets you no brownie points ! But yes. I mam reaping the reawrds of paying NI Contributions. Many were on a voluntary basis when I was working in Africa. The Middle East and the Balkans.

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Thank God you had the foresight to keep up with the contributions!

I look forward to receiving my first payment next week, just 5 months after claiming!

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I thought tax paid for the NHS.

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Plus Attendance Allowance, Disability Premium and Housing Benefit. :nod:

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The difference between Contributory and Non-contributory. Top marks for all those who know the difference !

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Lucky you ! I claimed in November, received my documents back in early January, after that nothing.... when they failed to pay my pension as requested I filled in the online form, which states they respond in 10 working days, a Month on still nothing ....

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I had the same issue with the online contact, never heard back. Funnily enough my docs were returned within a few weeks of sending in, then the long wait began!

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How did you get them to pay up ?

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You have to phone them. This requires persistence as you have to navigate the menus - and then hope to join the queue - and then wait for an answer! It's the only way!

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Thanks for the advice.

They should just settle claims correctly, 5.5 Months and no payment or response to the claim or online form, did it take just one phone call to get them to pay up ?

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Well, the first phone call seemed to trigger setting it up, however it took 3 more to sort out actually paying the money correctly, and that's another story! Also letters from DWP take at least 28 days to reach you (well, Hungary anyway) & payments 8 working days!

Normal world - post UK > Hungary, 2 days, bank transfers, 24 hours max!

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Wow, that’s a terrible indictment of how International DWP works or rather doesn’t work.....

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International DWP is the most incompetent part of an incompetent British Govn.I think.My pension had been paid into my Spanish Bank for several years.Then,without warning it was stopped ,no letter,no explanation,nada.As I had some cash in hand for my everyday needs I did not notice this until 3 months later & actually wrote a letter to Theresa Coffey,head of DWP,to ask for an explanation since this was an Entitlement,not a Welfare payment graciously approved by her department & even so,should not have been cancelled without some explained reason.I believe I was so angry because I had just read about some poor elderly lady who had had a benefit stopped,later found to be "a mistake" & had ended her life in despair.The outcome was an acknowledgement that"Lessons have been learned".Of course it was a minion,not Ms.Coffey who replied sometime later in early 2020 to say that an answer to my query would be addressed but due to the pandemic there would be a delay.To this date I am still waiting,although my payments were promptly re-instated.Then I changed my address & ,again wrote a letter to the International DWP to inform them of this.Unbelievably,& remember this is an International Dept.,back came a letter to ask if I could shorten my new address,leave out any bit that was"unnecessary"as the full address "would not fit on their equipment".Thinking about it I did consider asking the Spanish P.M.if he could change to more Anglicized names for apartments,roads & towns like Fawlty Towers,Main Street,Torquay.I do prefer to write each time & in some cases this is the requested method,but you also have to cope with a regional accent,often having to ask for a repeat answer during a phone conversation if unsure.I dread to think how this department deals with queries & new addresses from British Nationals residing in say,Eastern European countries......all those foreign words,with strange symbols over some of the letters,not very British!

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[QUOTE=dougal03;13009272]International DWP is the most incompetent part.../QUOTE]

You are absolutely right, it is an absolute disgrace.

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It does, National Insurance is for your pension, NHS spending comes out of you taxes.

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& actually wrote a letter to Theresa Coffey,head of DWP,to ask for an explanation since this was an Entitlement,not a Welfare payment ![/QUOTE]

This is the important part, your only entitled to the pension if you paid the relevant fees upfront.
I’m quite confident DWP are not picking on me, so how many other people are they not paying that claimed within their 4 Month prior rule ?

Also, I’m wondering if this is only a ‘problem’ for ex pats, since if U.K. residents were not receiving their pensions I’m sure there would be an outcry, is this discrimination ?

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It is only a problem for expats.

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It does seem that ex-pats.have a big problem dealing with the DWP as ,in my case, spent some time in the RAF & later self-employed always contributions up to date & never had any extra welfare benefit paid to me so there was no reason to stop paying me.However also, I believe that there is an on-going debacle concerning older ladies in UK who have not been granted the correct amounts owed to them via their spouses contributions.I think this anomaly was highlighted in a Martin Lewis TV programme.My much younger sibling has just applied for her pension so perhaps I should keep her informed of your comments as it is helpful.

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

So true

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...23c937abb2.jpg

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

:D
& in the case of DWP they hope we expire before they answer the call !

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And as the Government keeps jacking up the retirement age they know that they are onto a sure fire winner! And, of course when there's no one left (other than early retiring civil servants) to claim the pension there will still be just as many administrators - and calls will still take as long to get through!

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

As an update, DWP finally paid my pension, over 4 Months late, took 3 phone calls & the online form to get them to do something. And payments to Croatia are made via Citi Bank in USA & the transfer takes 8 working days !

8 Months from start to finish, International DWP are terrible :britflag:

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

Tried to claim your S1 yet?

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

No, gone private

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

live in one of the currently approved countries overseas for receipt of index linked pensions. What amount are the fees I need to pay, if any, and how far in advance must they be paid.

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There are no fees, it’s just the problem that it is all taking so long, you can only apply for your pension 4 Months before it’s due but their backlog is 7- 8 Months currently.
First thing to do is obtain a pension forecast from them to ensure you paid enough years for the full pension.
They will pay you in the currency of the Country your in, unless you opt for a U.K. account but that might have tax implications

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Best way is to tell the DWP to pay your pension direct to your bank in the country you live in, you get a better rate and. usually, get the pension on the date you would have in the UK, at least that was true about pensions to Spain in 2004 when my wife had her pension paid direct to our Spanish account. You got a better rate that you would having it paid into a UK account and using a transfer company. Thankfully there were no delays getting it paid as we were well before Brexit raised it's ugly head.

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Yes, the rate to Croatia was good & at least as good as I would have obtained.
UK payments take 5 working days & EU payments take 8 working days, that’s down to their payment processing systems.

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With TransferWise - now just Wise - I believe you'll find that different now. The only info I ever had was "favourable rate" but us 'Wise' users believe there's no better rate (unless favoured customers transferring massive sums get a good rate) and fees are minimal.

However, it needs someone to do an exact comparison to be sure. I'm about to do one in a few days. I'll post that one if I remember.

Re: State Retirement Pension
 

Transferred £520 from UK bank account. Fee £2.45, so the transfer amount is £517.55.
Rate 1.743.
$902.09 arrives in my Canadian account.

According to the comparison tool that £520 gets me $887.02 with Western Union, $858.66 with Lloyds, and Barclays is no fee but only 1.695, getting $881.61.

I did my own comparison with XE transfers and their quote for £520 was 1.724 getting me $896.95.