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Paying into a pension

letitbe

does anyone pay into a private pension?
I don’t know anything about it .
is it allowed if you get pip / LCWRA, if it is would it be treated as capital ?
how much would you be allowed to pay in ? Would £100-200 per month be allowed ? And would I have to inform pip / uc ?
Thanks

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Comments

poppy123456

Yes you’re allowed to do that. If it’s in a pension pot then it’s disregarded. If you don’t work the most you can pay into it per year will be £2,880 and the Government will top it up to £3600.

Please be aware that if you do this then of course you won’t be able to have access to it like you could with other savings.

OverlyAnxious

I do. As Poppy says, it's disregarded and there's no need to tell UC or PIP.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/976672#Comment_976672

ok thx Poppy .

I don’t know anything about these things .
So I could pay upto £240 pm into it ?
do I need to inform pip / UC before setting one up ?
when you say I can’t have access to it do u mean until retirement age or can I choose the age I’d like access to it ?
what happens if I die ? Who would it go to ?
sorry for all the questions
I don’t understands about ISAs and all those things

poppy123456

It's up to £2,880/year. No, you do not need to inform PIP or UC at any stage. At the moment accessing the pension is age 55 for some but this is increasing at some point, can't remember when exactly. You can of course leave it fully until you reach state pension age. There's some information here.

https://www.gov.uk/personal-pensions-your-rights/how-you-can-take-pension

If you die then it will be left to your beneficiaries.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/976683#Comment_976683

ok thanks . Can I do all this online ? I mean like set up the pension etc ? What would happen if I pay into it for a year or 2 then stop ?

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/977001#Comment_977001

thanks Poppy . I’ll have to look into setting this up because I have money left over at end of month and setting up a pension for myself would be a good thing.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/977005#Comment_977005

Yes, mine was all setup online. There are several pension providers offering this.

If you pay for 2 years then stop, the money in there would stay in there until you reach pension age.

Hopefully it will increase, at least at the rate of inflation, so you don't lose any of it by the time you can take it out. However, you will have to pay fees on it, so look for one for low annual fees if there's a chance you'll only use it for a short time.

Any unused pension should go to your beneficiaries if you die and have made a will. But my pension provider also gave me the opportunity to nominate a beneficiary. That was useful for me as I don't have a will. (And haven't been able to make one of those online).

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/977287#Comment_977287

ok thx overlyanxious, ill def have to look into this.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/977007#Comment_977007

hi Poppy / overly anxious

In the next few months I’ll be going quite a bit over the 6k and I’ll be letting UC know this on journal . If I open a private pension and put a few hundred pounds in it every month from now would they in any way see this as deprivation ? I’ll still be over 6k so will be letting them know. How much can I start the pension off with without getting into trouble ? Thanks

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/980676#Comment_980676

There isn't really a perfect answer to this as it's a bit of a grey area. My advice would be to set up a regular payment before you reach £6k. And also choose a payment date that isn't on or near the last day of your payment period, as that could look suspicious.

The regular payment shouldn't be seen as deprivation. I would be cautious of moving a large lump sum to the pension at any point though.

Also, on a separate note, I would recommend checking with your local council what the threshold is for council tax reduction. I've seen some use £6k, some use £10, and some use £16k. So you may have to pay council tax at some point when your savings rise past that threshold. That will not be automatic, you will need to inform the council when it happens.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/980918#Comment_980918

thanks OverlyAnxious, I’m already over the 6k but thats because of pip backdated 12 month disregard and the 12 month disregard will be ending soon so I’ll be telling UC when it’s up as I haven’t spent all my backdated and will be quite a bit over the 6k where they’ll be deducting a lot per month , I wish I would’ve spent it though because I wouldn’t have to deal with all this stress, it’s caus8ng me terrible anxiety .