Pension Credit - Would You Answer 243 Questions To Claim?
In the News
Is it any wonder that pensioners don't claim Pension credit when they would have to fill in a 243 question form.
I am sure that people who have worked all their lives and given their all to the country would find it daunting to complete such a form which by definition must be intrusive....
It's bs my dad is £2 over so can't claim it all because he got a private pension when they said get one
Leannexxx This is the trouble with setting 'limits' there are always some people who just don't make it - we have been in that position in the past and it stinks! I feel for your dad.
tumblespots it all wrong we should be looking after the older generation as you said most have worked all their lives for what ? To get cut out coz there work is done
Leannexxx Another point to consider is that after working all their lives and giving so much money to the government through taxes they rely on the state pension and don't, in most cases, have the ability to go out and get a job at, say, 75 or 85 years old, 1) who would employ them and 2) they shouldn't have to! The cost of living these days is so high and the pension will only go so far.
tumblespots yes pension will only go so far but it's there for them shouldn't be cut or a big form to fill it my father can't even get the winter allowance either it's a joke the government are only out for themselves
Leannexxx The thing is, they have never been short of money so they don't either realise, or care, how it affects those who don't have millions in the bank! They just can't relate to it.
Leannexxx my mums the same. When ever she's tried to claim anything since my dad passed away she is £1 over the limit. She has a tiny private pension of her own and a private pension from my dad. She has been like this for 31 years. On top of that she is still paying tax on the private pensions!
Deansmum I was just 20p over when I became a pensioner,and tried to claim. I was disgusted!
I would claim if I were eligible even though I don't get full pension. Trying to make up the years was bad enough online so I gave up. Luckily I have a works pension so I am able to live without worry. However, the increase in both pensions this year has now been totally wiped out, and some, by losing the heating allowance. They keep saying £300 loss of heating allowance but mine, and my DIL's parents, was £500, a lot to lose. Even both pensions are less than what most people would consider adequate these days, but luckily I have no rent or mortgage which is down to a life of frugality and hard work.
Lynibis Yes, we got the £500 last year and the year before due to the increase in the cost of living and expected it to revert to the lower amount this year but are now not getting anything. So, for them to say that you lose only £200 or £300 is rubbish. Add to this the fact that they haven't increased the personal tax allowance for a few years and have no plans to in the near future either, it's a lot to lose. What I find amazing is that those who haven't worked are given everything but if, like us, you have planned for your retirement, you are penalised at every twist and turn.
Is life fair - I should say not!
If you asked a household, even just a couple, to live on what pensioners get - they wouldn't survive (it is below the standard amount the government says you can live on) and yet pensioners have given their all to this country and rewarded with.....nothing but cuts.
tumblespots and from what I hear tax is going up too. So losing heat allowance this wiping out pension increase and then being taxed more. Can't believe I still have to pay tax at 70 on pension slightly more than the tax allowance.
Lynibis Plus the energy costs are soaring in October too! Mr T also pays tax on his meagre pensions. The tax will go up one way or another is just a matter of what they think they get away with 
tumblespots Are you talking about yourself or pensioners who just live on State pensions?
Blimey 243 pages and no doubt online too. I’m sure the Citizens Advice Centres will help.
Pjran I'm not sure people would have all the information to hand to complete it in one go either!
tumblespots it’s not easy for some to complete their application online. I know my mother in law would find it tricky, she doesn’t have broadband.
Pjran That would be tricky indeed then! It is always assumed that everyone has internet access, but then, the less people who apply, the less get paid out so it is in the governments interests to make it as difficult as possible.
tumblespots she doesn’t even have a laptop but does own a smart phone but only knows which button to press to answer it.
Pjran I feel for her and sympathise. I have a laptop but don't have a smart phone - I would be totally flummoxed if anyone handed me one.
tumblespots I think she’s 89 and still mobile but technology is somewhat difficult. Mind you I find new things take a while to master.
Pjran I have always been a technophobe and hate changing to a new phone (so I don't do it - I've only ever had 2 
) or laptop and I'm not 89 yet.
Thank you. I only read the post on here which states 243. I hope those in need don’t read the misleading 243 pages 
Now that Labour has settled many pay disputes with high settlements it seems others are now wanting their increases too so we are likely to get more pay disputes. I think there is also a DWP strike coming which could effect payments of benefits for many people. I seem to remember in the past there was a wave of disputes with past Labour governments. So it feels like many benefits will be reduced as the government has to pay for these new pay settlements. I feel many of these pay settlements are grossly unfair like the very high pay of train drivers which have to be paid for by ridiculous ticket prices and more government subsidies. So many people now in the private sector have wages close to the minimum wage or at the minimum wage, tiny pensions and yet are skilled people working in retail or what remains of manufacturing but public sector pay is on another level and has not followed the downward trend of the private sector. So very poor people are forced to pay tax for other people to enjoy much higher wages. What makes it worse is the utter incompetence too of public sector workers like so many councils who are utterly clueless about what they are doing building up huge debts and still having high expenses claims.
More and more benefits will be means tested so if you know anyone who may struggle to fill in forms on a low income like a relative then try to help them i.e. pension credit. I'm guessing there will be a huge number of Labour reforms which will mean more benefits are means tested which personally I'm not against but when it comes to the elderly they often struggle to claim what they are entitled to which is why many previous benefits were not means tested.
BonzoBanana I agree. I have heard that they will also try and make the state pension means tested! Hoops and more hoops!
Why don't governments ever try and make things easier for the people? I have never been better off when successive governments have implemented changes. 
BonzoBanana public sector has had huge cuts and little to no pay rise for a decade, giving a settle now, which is over 3-5 years, not all at once, means those that were striking will not strike as per the terms of the negotiation, and there'll be a better workforce.
It's the Tories that got the country into this mess. If Labour hadn't won, then the likelihood is that more cuts to services and welfare would have happened, and the Tories had been talking about cutting the Winter Fuel Allowance altogether, whilst making sure they lined their own & chums pockets.
So if you want to blame anyone, blame the Tories who wrecked the country.
GrannySam Both Conservative and Labour have borrowed, sold assets and generally not dealt with the issues for 40 years of joining the EU and it was Edward Heath that got us into the EU which was a complete disaster. The Public Sector will continue to have huge cuts as the country is bankrupt and having to make huge interest payments. The likelihood is the public sector will now be forced to make more redundancies as we hit another financial crisis which will result in even less money so the only option is less staff based on higher wage settlements. I totally get the public sector has not done well in recent years but the private sector (the wealth creating sector) has done far worse with a much higher erosion in wages and pensions. Many more people are on wages close to the minimum wage in the private sector.
There is a real likelihood that in the next few years the UK will default on its interest payments and will be forced to make huge public sector cuts in order to satisfy the requirements for a IMF bailout.
BonzoBanana Joining the EU got us more trade than we had previously.
We are losing out by £billions because we left on terrible terms.
All governments borrow as there isn't enough in taxes to cover everything and to build the country.
The UK literally can not be bankrupt as we are a sovereign country, and we can borrow from the BoE or from the international bank to tide us over, though we used to have an excellent credit rating but the Tories with their mismanagement of the economy in their early years in office, lost us our excellent credit rating which meant borrowing was costing us more, hence the over £trillion in the nation debt, which will take years to pay off.
The former Labour government, who had to deal with the global financial crash, drove the national debt up that high.
In fact, in fact, in 2010, the economy was growing, and the national debt was coming down.
The only reason why the government settled with the doctors etc is because it was costing the country more with the strikes and if no settlement had been made there was going to be more strikes costing the country more, the pay deal is spread over several years not all at once, and it's good for morale and for recruitment if doctors see that there is a better pay deal they will want to work for the NHS, especially when labour are planning to hire more Dr's, nurses etc to ease the staffing burden.
I don't think there will be massive cutes to the public sector as we have seen over the past 14 years, though it will take time to change things for the better.
Evidence shows that the private sector has grown in wages faster than the public sector.
The way pensions contributions are collected has changed, it's not an automatic thing now, it's an opt in.
I highly doubt the UK will need a bail out in the next few years, but we will have to wait and see what is going to happen.
GrannySam Trade is not good if its a huge trade deficit against us which leads to huge government borrowing and debt. If you give away huge amounts of money and then have to borrow to replace it this not a good thing and just shows how common sense has been replaced by political rhetoric. Just sending 7 billion net a year over 43 years with all the compound interest has cost us over 600 billion in debt (calculated at an average of 3% interest per year). We could never compete in the EU single market hence why we lost a huge number of factories and you don't see British goods on shelves etc. When you run a large trade deficit and sterling goes into the hands of foreign countries it means often inward investment so many assets in the UK are now foreign owned and all profits go abroad. Mass immigration has also caused huge issue we are already hugely overpopulated for a small island and taking that to more extreme levels has meant huge stress on water and sewage systems for example which were never meant to deal with such a huge number of people and no one wants to pay the huge investment needed to upgrade them.
The fact there are still people who think joining the EU was a good thing just shows how utterly incompetent we have become economically. It goes without saying its madness just to give away money and join a single market you can't compete in. The legacy of joining the EU will probably last half a century with all the debts its caused and huge destruction of industry and we haven't even started to pay that debt off yet. We have become a much poorer country since joining the EU which is so obvious and easy to understand when you look at the data. If you gave away your money, no longer could work or sell your goods and had more people living in your home wearing out your home that would not be a good thing. You need to stop regurgitating political rhetoric from often utterly incompetent idealistic politicians and look around you at what industry is left in the UK and have a look at the 'Office of National Statistics' site and the data regarding UK statistics since joining the EU. Every person of even the most simplistic intelligence can see what has happened to the UK since joining the EU. How anyone can even dare to mention 'trade' with regard the EU when 10s of thousands of UK manufacturers have gone and there is nothing now in many areas.
Ridiculous the hoops they make people jump. It's usually the ones that deserve it that gets nothing and those that play the system get everything handed to them
Jerseydrew, those who you refer to do not get everything, they have to struggle to get what they are entitled to and are penalised often with sanctions, I read a story in a disability rights group, where the man in his 50's went for the appointment at the job centre, whilst waiting he felt unwell and collapsed, the other people there asked staff to help which they didn't, one of the people trying to help him called an ambulance, when they arrived they said he was in cardiac arrest, he was stabilised and taken to hospital.
Weeks later he was discharged from the hospital, went home and checking his mail he had a letter from the DWP saying he had been sanctioned for not attending his appointment, sanctioned for 6 months.
He of course appealed it and went to a tribunal where they overturned the DWP's decision.
All that stress took it's toll on him.
GrannySam That's disgusting behaviour at the DWP, I would report them.
That's the thing they don't understand, when you get older ill health and worry take a far greater toll on you. I think they are trying to worry us all to death so that they have less pensions to pay out 
tumblespots technically the pension pot has become lower and lower over the last 20 years because there aren't enough taxes from workers to cover the pension pot for pensioners now, it's a myth that you pay in to the pension pot throughout your working life and it covers you in your retirement.
There isn't enough money from those workers' taxes to cover them when they retire.
Our children are paying taxes for their grandparents' pensions.
As for the DWP & ATOS are a disgrace, I've only met 2 work coaches that were very decent.
The way people are treated covers everyone from children to pensioners.
I read another story from the same disability support group as the older man, this time a young child was with their parents at an ATOS centre for assessments for DLA (Disability Living Allowance), the child was wheeled in in a wheelchair and one of the first questions to the parents was "When will the child grow their legs back (Note the child was an amputee)", obviously the parents were gobsmacked and said clearly that people don't grow a limb after an amputation.
Weeks later they received the DWP's decision, they'd failed effective because they did not answer all the questions.
They had answered all the questions and took the DWP to a tribunal where they did get the decision overturned.
ATOS are diabolical they should not be allowed to operate in the UK.
I've seen the lies at first hand, and although the tribunals are meant to be impartial I know from experience they aren't always.
GrannySam The more you hear the more you realise that the whole country is broken!
GrannySam trust me there are some who work the system. Some that should have gotten more support are told no. I know some who do it illegally and when it's reported nothing is done and they get away with it. Some get caught for committing fraud and others just no how to play the game as in when it comes to paying child support as soon as the dept catches up with them for child maintenance they get sacked from work so they don't have to pay. Others who make their kids stay in education cos they get more money. I could gone on.
GrannySam when I say some get nothing I'm talking about the ones that are honest and don't play the game and get overwhelmed by paperwork and the ones that are told oh you've cancer and it's terminal oh well you're fit for work. They are the ones that I get angry for because they need the support. The system is broken
Jerseydrew I was one of those honest ones that tried for years to get PIP and likewise ESA I was told several times I didn't have any disabilities and I was "Fit for Work" as with PIP at the tribunal they were more interested in my daughters holiday to Tenerife than my case, and when she tried to explain that whilst she was away my friend came most days to help me, the so called judge shouted at her and me.
I felt more mentally ill after that, as soon as we went into the waiting room I knew I had lost the case and sure enough a few weeks later when the letter arrived it said it was upholding the DWP's decision.
I went in to a deep depression after that which took almost a year to come out of.
Every time I've had to fight to get what I know I'm entitled to.
And yes there are some who play the system but out of the whole welfare budget it is approximately 0.2%.
It's those at the top that rip off the tax pot with an estimated £100billion owed in tax, and yet the Tories told HMRC & the DWP to spend 80% of time & budget going after the lowest end and 20% of time and money going after those at the top.
tumblespots it's pointless reporting them they all get away with it because it's dealt with internally.
GrannySam that's awful. They expect loved ones to not have a break or lead their own lives as in the case of your daughters. If they were paid staff they would be entitled to holidays and days off yet family aren't it's sickening. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Jerseydrew thank you, I think they were interrogating her to check if she had really been or if it was a lie, like why would she or us lie about a holiday, maybe they thought we had been on holiday and to them weirdly they think if you're fit enough for a holiday especially abroad then you're not disabled.
I phoned dwp website to ask about mine. I'm just a few pounds over so I can't get it
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