UK Pensions compared

Taken from Daily Express:-
Britain is languishing behind otherEuropeannations in pensions whileSpainsurges ahead despite the cost of living in the UK being more expensive.
The UK ranks 16th in a list of 30 for what it hands out in state pensions, handing out £802.32 a month compared to the £2,287.24 dished out in Spain, which tops the list and has a monthly cost of living of £561.43 compared to Britain's £688.04

Bear in mind that the Spanish social security payments are 36.5% of earnings. They also pay extra to boost the pension so the figures are comparing top up pensions in other countries with the basic UK pension.

There are a lot of top ups in UK for those on the basic pension and more allowances (council tax reductions etc) then other countries have.

Workplace pensions were introduced into UK but are voluntary. Other countries make it compulsory so their final pensions are worth a lot more.

Then there's the big point, the UK pound has slipped badly both after the financial crisis and after Brexit. If it were still 1.60 or 1.50 to the euro and 248 to the USD then these figures would be much closer.

Comparing apples with pears rarely give valid results!

Were happy with our little lot

Has anyone else been conned by the DWPD and HMRC over buying extra years to increase your state pension ?
It happened to me
I was sent a forecast by DWPD saying i could buy back 7 missing years at a cost of more than £4,000
I did this after scraping together the money before the cut off date, which has been miraculously extended now and waited for the increase in my pension
2 months later i got a letter from the UK , it took a month to arrive here , telling me they had made a mistake and i could not claim any missing years , partly due to being contracted out during some years
When i contacted HMRC they said they had allowed the first 4 years but not the last 3 because i was retired during those years , contradicting the pensions letter
When i asked when i would get my money back for those last three years they said it can take up to 30 weeks !!!!!
I told them that was ridiculous, and after being passed from pillar to post one person took all the additional details and said they would TRY to get my money fast tracked back due to it not being my fault, which i dont believe will happen
I found a recent article about this happening to a woman in the UK, and she was basically told the same , and they said it was an ISOLATED mistake
When i checked more websites i found it had happened to many people
They are taking peoples money under false pretences here, keeping it for more than 6 months , gaining the interest that we are losing , it is nothing but a scam and the government are allowing it
I hope someone petitions for a class action against these robbers but i doubt it, these are two departments protected under the robbing governments wing !!!

I added 8 years to my pension, cost over 6k but if I live I think it is 3.5 years more I would have made it up so worth it. It took ages getting pushed from pillar to post on an expensive number but it had to be done. When I eventually did get payment it was short of what it should have been so I had to call them again and a few times I'd been waiting an hour and get cut off, it was soo frustrating. Finally got it sorted and all is well but there's about 5 payments all different amounts and not every 4 weeks, didn't know if I was coming or going but the last 3 have been the correct amount and 4 weeks apart so looks like it's ok now. It was making me so anxious trying to sort it.

Chrisdee wrote:I added 8 years to my pension, cost over 6k but if I live I think it is 3.5 years more I would have made it up so worth it. It took ages getting pushed from pillar to post on an expensive number but it had to be done. When I eventually did get payment it was short of what it should have been so I had to call them again and a few times I'd been waiting an hour and get cut off, it was soo frustrating. Finally got it sorted and all is well but there's about 5 payments all different amounts and not every 4 weeks, didn't know if I was coming or going but the last 3 have been the correct amount and 4 weeks apart so looks like it's ok now. It was making me so anxious trying to sort it.

Same here C, i honestly think the DWPD dont know what they are doing , i know it is all a big mess
To make an incorrect forecast beggars belief though, and then HMRC hold onto your money for more than 6 months instead of refunding it straight away is ridiculous, imagine how many people it could have happened to and how much of other peoples money is sitting in the governments bank account earning interest

It's definitely worth doing though if you can. As Chrisdee says it pays back in around 3 years (ignoring inflation). I am 16 years short because I was fortunate enough to retire early. As I also worked in Spain for several years I only have to pay Class 2 NI contributions for those years which are about £160 each rather than £800 for Class 3. HMRC certainly seem to be in a mess and it took over 8 months for them to get back to me with the details, but I have until April 2025 to pay so I'm going to keep the money in my account a bit longer yet!

Didn't take long for the topic to come off the rails!

To get back on point read this.

https://theferret.scot/claim-uk-pension ... -half-true

Like I said you cannot compare apples to pears.