[UK] Deferring your State Pension

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have recently made changes to their guidance on deferring state pension if a person reaches their pension age before the 6th of April 2016.  The change was correcting a figure used in the example of how the DWP calculates lump sum payments on page 7 of the guide about State Pension deferral.  Previously, this said that the interest rate was 0.0005% when it should be 0.5%.

The Global Payroll Association has not pointed to this importance guidance before which is not only useful for individuals but also employers.  So, we want to direct readers to that main guidance pages on gov.uk which explain what deferral is, what the individual’s choices are and the increased pension payments that could result: 

• uk guidance “Delay (defer) your State Pension”
• Extra information (pdf)
• State pension deferral and death before claiming (pdf)

It is important to state that this relates to deferrals for pension ages reached before the 6^th of April 2016.  For guidance on deferrals after this date, the rules have changed and therefore the guidance is different.  This is a useful part of a series of information entitled “Plan your retirement: step by step”. 

Although it is part of the above series of information pages, readers might want to calculate the age at which they can get their state pension so it is also worth pointing out the “Check your State Pension age” tool that is also on gov.uk.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have recently made changes to their guidance on deferring state pension if a person reaches their pension age before the 6th of April 2016.  The change was correcting a figure used in the example of how the DWP calculates lump sum payments on page 7 of the guide about State Pension deferral.  Previously, this said that the interest rate was 0.0005% when it should be 0.5%.

The Global Payroll Association has not pointed to this importance guidance before which is not only useful for individuals but also employers.  So, we want to direct readers to that main guidance pages on gov.uk which explain what deferral is, what the individual’s choices are and the increased pension payments that could result: 

• uk guidance “Delay (defer) your State Pension”
• Extra information (pdf)
• State pension deferral and death before claiming (pdf)

It is important to state that this relates to deferrals for pension ages reached before the 6^th of April 2016.  For guidance on deferrals after this date, the rules have changed and therefore the guidance is different.  This is a useful part of a series of information entitled “Plan your retirement: step by step”. 

Although it is part of the above series of information pages, readers might want to calculate the age at which they can get their state pension so it is also worth pointing out the “Check your State Pension age” tool that is also on gov.uk.