Widows entitlement to state pension

A question about : Widows entitlement to state pension

Hi guys

Sadly, my father died on Christmas Day 2007 aged 63. He therefore was never able to collect his state pension althought he had a full record of contributions
My mother is 61 and has been in receipt of a partial state pension since she was 60.

I have received the DWP booklet what to do when someone dies from the hospital but it is unclear on what if anything someone in my mothers position is entitled to. when I registered the death I was given a form to complete with an envelope to return to the Pensions Agency (?) in Cardiff but have heard nothing back as yet.

my father was under the impression that my mothers state pension would be made up to the full amount on his death and that she would receive Ј2000 Bereavement Payment, but I am not sure if this is correct. can anyone advise?

thanks

Best answers:

• try reading
  https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAn...eath/DG_066810
• Hi claire I am really sorry to hear about of your Father's Passing.
  My Dad also died at 63 with my mother being 61. Mum's pension was increaed to a widows pension, she also received the Ј2000. I am pretty sure it was all triggered once we sent the form you mention off. With it being the holiday period I guess it may take a little longer but the back pay will be issued along with a notification of the figure from then on. Please feel free to PM me if I can be of any help as I have kept most of the paperwork involved.
  Best Wishes
  Dusty x
• thank you all. I had to refer to p 77 of the 120 page long NP46 form to confirm that my mum should get a pension increase to the value of my dad's state pension entitlement. Could they not make these things a bit clearer?
  I believe the form I received from the registrar was the BD8 Certificate of Registration of Death, which should, accordingly to NP46 act as an application for the pension increase. This is a simple 2 sided A4 form. Job done
  However in order to get the Ј2K bereavement payment (which will just about cover last month's gin bill....) Mum needs to complete another 20 page form, BB1, and send it to the JobCentre Plus office with original birth, marriage and death certificates. Or (rather than risk having her identity stolen by Royal Mail), she can take it in person to the local Job Centre Plus and (presumably) queue up along with all the dole claimants to be seen. Great - that should probably just about finish her off as well.
• I am recently widowed aged 62 and receiving a partial state pension in my own right, my husband was 60 when he died in November 07 having a full record of contributions, I am not sure what I am entitled to and can anyone tell me to qualify for any additional pension, is it means tested?
• I'm sorry to hear of your bereavement Elcee.
  I think you can claim a full pension from your late husband's contributions . State Pension is not means-tested.
• Hi - I need some advice, but it is a bit complicated and I must admit I struggle to understand the whole pension area! But here goes... Here is the background: My father died suddenly in 2002 at the age of 58. He had been paying into a private pension fund (Unilever) and a representative for the fund came to see my mother at the time (age 58) - informing her that she could claim his pension and, being in full time education at the time, I started receiving an allowance (which stopped when I finished uni in 2004). My mother reached retirement age and started to claim my father's Unilever pension and a state pension (she had worked for a proportion of her life). I seem to recall at the time the pension representative came to see my mother, she said that my mother would be entitled to both pensions. My mother has never felt comfortable with this. She thinks that she is not entitled to both and that she is receiving too much, which is causing her a great deal of anxiety. Despite assuring her everything is OK - and even contacting the DWP and Unilever on her behalf (she does not understand everything to do with the pensions and struggles on the phone) to confirm it at least twice before - she is still extremely worried that she will have to pay it back and with interest. I guess what I am wanting is some confirmation that it is possible to receive both a private and state pension and if anyone else has been in this situation? How can I assure her everything is OK? I am assuming if it wasn't - it has been brought to the DWP/Unilever's attention via query, so they would have said so? She does not accept this argument however. Help! Thanks
• It's perfectly normal to receive a state pension based on her own contributions via NI and a occupational pension based on her husbands contribtions to a private (Unilever ) scheme
  Otherwise no-one would contribute to occupactional schemes.
  Does she have any friends in a similar situation that she could seek confirmation and make her feel more comfortable.
• If you're widowed before retirement age there is usually a form of 'pension' based on late husband's contributions.
  Once you reach retirement age you have 2 options: EITHER (1) claim retirement pension based on your own contributions OR (2) claim retirement pension based on late husband's contributions, whichever is most favourable.
  This happened to me in 1992. I was widowed age 56, late husband was 58, and because he hadn't yet become eligible for retirement pension, I was paid Ј1000 'bereavement payment' (it's now Ј2000).
• Thank you all for the swift responses! It is appreciated. Unfortunately she doesn't have many friends other than family (lost touch with many and think she finds it difficult to get out and make new ones). But even then she is quite uneasy about mentioning this as I think she feels that she is committing fraud of some kind - which as far as my siblings and I are concerned, cannot be the case as we have contacted the Pension Service in the past to confirm everything is OK and a representative from Unilever helped to sort everything at the very beginning!! The problem is we don't really understand the finer details of all this pension stuff and neither does she - so other than a lack of anyone telling us something is wrong when we have asked for confirmation (am I being completely niave here?), we find it difficult to substantiate an explanation that will remove her anxiety. I am trying to gather the facts to decipher the rationale behind the specific payments she receives, but I am struggling to understand it myself. One of the things she is worried about is the tax. How can we investigate this for her? Is it possible to claim a late husbands private AND state pension also? Or would this be covered by a private pension only? Thanks again.
• Both myself and my husband will be entitled to an Occupational Pension and a State Pension.
  It is quite usual to have more than one pension source.
  As for tax, your mum will have a personal allowance - add all her income together and if it is over her personal allowance she will have to pay tax on the excess.
• If you want a rationale - her husband has paid into the private pension, so she is entitled to receive that (the amount according to the terms of the scheme); she has paid into her State Pension so she is entitled to receive that too, the amount depending on how many qualifying years she has.
  She may also be entitled to some SERPS/S2P (additional State Pension) depending upon how much has been accrued.
• Another way of putting it might be to say, 'Right. Dad worked and paid National Insurance from his wages. That entitled him [and his widow if he died] to state pension. But he also paid out extra for his Unilever pension so that he and his wife would have more to live on in retirement. So he paid for two pensions from his wages every week, which costs a lot more than just National Insurance on its own, so she is entitled to both.
• I often notice that posters refer to the age related pension allowance as being available from age 65. In fact it is available from the start of the tax year after your age is 64. Best day to be born is the 4th April !!
  BB