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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Benefits for older people  →  Thread

Pension lump sum

CHC
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Welfare rights team - St Mungo's Broadway

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Total Posts: 179

Joined: 22 June 2010

A client is coming up to State Pension age and is waiting for pension details from a defined benefit scheme.  It looks like she might have two options - a lump sum with monthly pension payments option or just a monthly pension payment option, I am looking at the impact on both Pension Credit and Housing Benefit.

If she takes the lump sum and then monthly payment option then I am aware that the lump sum will be treated as capital and the on-going monthly pension payments will be treated as income in full and will reduce entitlement accordingly.

However could taking a lump sum cause a problem with the amount of pension deducted from her on going benefit awards if she would have received a higher monthly pension payment if she had not taken the lump sum? ie could they to apply notional income to the calculation of Pension Credit or HB   ( if no pension credit entitlement?) if this is the case?

[ Edited: 16 Apr 2024 at 03:13 pm by CHC ]
Prisca
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benefits section (training & accuracy) Bristol city council

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Total Posts: 226

Joined: 20 August 2015

no, taking a (capital) lump sum now and a smaller pension doesnt count as deprivation ( because there is no derivation, its choosing to take a lump of capital ( which will count as capital from the time its received)  and getting less future income as a result.
s
if your client was choosing not to receive the pension amount at all when theye could have done,, that may be deprivation