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Isn’t our great Chancellor, Alistair Darling, simply wonderful? He says that he is going to be open, transparent, and honest about future Tax increases and yet ….. and yet ….
Buried deep in the detailed ‘small print’ of Monday’s pre-Budget report is a nasty little surprise that will affect all female JustChat members who are hoping to retire and receive the full State Pension. (This will also affect around 500,000 female members of the public ).
If you are a woman and you have taken time out from work to care for children, or disabled or elderly relatives – until recently you could NOT claim the full State Pension when you retired (at 60) UNLESS you had paid 39 years worth of NI contributions.
James Purnell, the Work & Pensions Secretary, recently announced a concession so that those women who did NOT have the required 39 years worth of contributions could ”buy” up to 12 years worth, at the rate of £8.10 per week. This would enable them to receive either the full pension on retirement, or at least a significantly increased pension.
Good idea you may think, and eminiently fair eh? Well not so fast ladies!
Buried deep in the report is an announcement of a measure, that will come into effect on 6th April 2009, which will have the effect of RAISING these voluntary contributions from an affordable £8.10 a week to £12.03 a week – an INCREASE of 48.5% or an additional £2452 for the full 12 years.
Crafty little chap isn’t he? Yet another stealth tax from darling Gordon and Alistair. Didn’t make a big announcement of THAT in Parliament on Monday did they, eh? Can’t imagine why.
OK here’s how to save yourselves a load of money (and stuff the wicked Chancellor into the bargain):
1). From April 2010, the number of years needed for a person to receive the FULL State Pension will be reduced FROM 44 years for men and 39 years for women ….. TO only 30 years for both men and women.
2). Work out how many FULL years (i.e. April 6th to April 5th) you have accumulated in NI payments from your paid employment over the years…… as well as any anticipated years that you will pay for, if you are still working. This will tell you the total number of paid for years you have (or will have) accumulated by the time you retire.
3). See how many years of these payments you are short of the required 39 years (or will be short of the required 30 years from 2010 onwards) and ”buy” as many years as you can afford (or need) to fill the gap ….. but buy them BEFORE April 5th 2009.
If you do this, you will only pay at the rate of only £8.10 per week and not £12.03 per week.
Investing in a State Pension in this way can make a substantial difference to the weekly amount you will receive on retirement and is an excellent form of investment – especially in these times of financial uncertainty.
@forumhostpb wrote:
Isn’t our great Chancellor, Alistair Darling, simply wonderful? He says that he is going to be open, transparent, and honest about future Tax increases and yet ….. and yet ….
Buried deep in the detailed ‘small print’ of Monday’s pre-Budget report is a nasty little surprise that will affect all female JustChat members who are hoping to retire and receive the full State Pension. (This will also affect around 500,000 female members of the public ).
If you are a woman and you have taken time out from work to care for children, or disabled or elderly relatives – until recently you could NOT claim the full State Pension when you retired (at 60) UNLESS you had paid 39 years worth of NI contributions.
James Purnell, the Work & Pensions Secretary, recently announced a concession so that those women who did NOT have the required 39 years worth of contributions could ”buy” up to 12 years worth, at the rate of £8.10 per week. This would enable them to receive either the full pension on retirement, or at least a significantly increased pension.
Good idea you may think, and eminiently fair eh? Well not so fast ladies!
Buried deep in the report is an announcement of a measure, that will come into effect on 6th April 2009, which will have the effect of RAISING these voluntary contributions from an affordable £8.10 a week to £12.03 a week – an INCREASE of 48.5% or an additional £2452 for the full 12 years.
Crafty little chap isn’t he? Yet another stealth tax from darling Gordon and Alistair. Didn’t make a big announcement of THAT in Parliament on Monday did they, eh? Can’t imagine why.
OK here’s how to save yourselves a load of money (and stuff the wicked Chancellor into the bargain):
1). From April 2010, the number of years needed for a person to receive the FULL State Pension will be reduced FROM 44 years for men and 39 years for women ….. TO only 30 years for both men and women.
2). Work out how many FULL years (i.e. April 6th to April 5th) you have accumulated in NI payments from your paid employment over the years…… as well as any anticipated years that you will pay for, if you are still working. This will tell you the total number of paid for years you have (or will have) accumulated by the time you retire.
3). See how many years of these payments you are short of the required 39 years (or will be short of the required 30 years from 2010 onwards) and ”buy” as many years as you can afford (or need) to fill the gap ….. but buy them BEFORE April 5th 2009.
If you do this, you will only pay at the rate of only £8.10 per week and not £12.03 per week.
Investing in a State Pension in this way can make a substantial difference to the weekly amount you will receive on retirement and is an excellent form of investment – especially in these times of financial uncertainty.
you blaggard.. you took the p as well….
So are we saying give more but pay less, spend more on NHS, schools etc but LOWER taxes at all times and we’ll vote for you. Could anyone here do that, increase spending but take a cut in money ? Trouble is no one wants to hear the less popular measures it takes to provide pensions and services or they’ll damn well spit the dummy out and vote for another party who’ll do the same thing till were sick of it and by god we’ll have the original set of duffers back in thank you.
Is anyone gonna vote for a party that increases taxes to pay for lets say a better NHS ? I would provided there was guarantees thats exactly where the money went, but then we cant trust them to do that can we ?So, you’re a conservative are you PB :lol:
@dee wrote:
So, you’re a conservative are you PB :lol:
Oh !!! You spotted it then??? (I even read the Daily Telegraph).
BTW: “New” Labour are not going to raise VAT to 18.5% when their big give-away comes to an end in 12 month’s time.
You’ll be paying 20% instead !!!
Enjoy!
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