Private Pensions - Budget

By checking bank statements. Also the PC form asks if the person receives a works etc pension. It can easily be amended to ask if a lump sum was paid.

If the DWP did find out or if the person indicates they have spent the money the person will either be called in to a Jobcentre for an interview or will be visited at home and will be asked about how and why they spent the money.

Are you saying that the DWP have the right to ask banks for statements?

All they have to say is that their children lent them money for home improvements or a new car, or suchlike - and they have now repaid that loan. There is no compulsion for such inter-family loans to be documented - and indeed are often done as cash loans

If needed, yes. And that's not a new power either. But the DWP can ask the claimant to provide whatever documentation is deemed necessary in order to process a claim.

The bizarrest thing about Guaranteed Pension Credit though is once a person is aged 65 or over and is given an assessed income period they can win £160 million on the Euromillions and will still get PC and passported Housing Benefit. Capital doesn't have any effect on PC when a person is in an AIP. When the AIP ends the person will then be unable to claim any PC or HB. It's farcical.

They would have to provide proof of that, such as a signed statement by the person who lent the money. And both parties can be prosecuted if they make a false statement and subsequently get found out.

Precisely - as I pointed out!

"i.e. one where there is no specific compulsion to purchase an annuity because of pension plan rules or the by the direction of a will."

However, with the impending situation where by there is no compulsion to purchase an annuity with one's pension funds, why should that contract be any different then to one where the proceeds of a house sale are used, for example. Or, to put it another way, are there going to be any restrictions on the way that pension fund is spent on realisation?

Precisely - as I pointed out!

"i.e. one where there is no specific compulsion to purchase an annuity because of pension plan rules or the by the direction of a will."

However, with the impending situation where by there is no compulsion to purchase an annuity with one's pension funds, why should that contract be any different then to one where the proceeds of a house sale are used, for example. Or, to put it another way, are there going to be any restrictions on the way that pension fund is spent on realisation?

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That will depend whether you are buying the annuity with "tax free" money or not

Whilst the simple test is one of whether the annuity is a compulsory purchase the actual effect is to extract tax on something that was previous given tax relief

this desire will nor change even when the (pension) annuity purchase is not compulsory, so I expect the rule will change to follow that desire

tim

Exactly!

In article , Judith wrote: } }Say someone has no savings - but has say ?30,000 in a private pension - and }has less than full State pension entitlement - does this mean: } }Say this person who is unemployed, rather than buying an annuity, draws out the }full ?30,000 when they are in their fifties - goes on a nice cruise for 5 }weeks - and then gives the remainder of the money to their children. } }(The children could of course give them "pocket money" in cash every month) } }Will this person - who now has no savings - and has no private pension - have }to be totally supported by the state for the rest of their lives: most probably }being entitled to Pension Credits and perhaps other means tested benefits? } } }I am sure that the scenario cannot be true: but I would like to understand why }it isn't.

Why not? Say the same person instead of putting money into a pension during their working life simply spent that money. Why should they be treated differently for spending it as they earned it rather than saving it and spending it all in one go?

One of the enablers for this change is that pension credits are being abolished. State pension will be raised, but that is all you will get from the state, pension-wise.