Can you trust the state pension system as more blunders emerge?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You'd like to imagine that when it came to the state pension, you'd be dealing with a more robust system than the ones that deliver the average customer service nightmare.

Savers could be forgive for questioning whether that was the case after a string of recent blunders.

First we had the underpaid women's state pensions scandal, now we have the pension top-ups system creaking at the seams, at the same time as it turns out there may be a serious problem with the records of those who have received Universal Credit.

The common thread running through exposing these problems has been This is Money's pension and investing editor Tanya Jefferies and retirement columnist Steve Webb. They have worked tirelessly to help those affected and bring these issues to light.

This week, we had a state pension double header of news with an admission of the problems over Universal Credit and the Government finally extending the deadline for boosting state pension via top-ups.

On this podcast episode, Tanya talks us through the problems and discusses what they mean for people, with Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert.

Also, the team talk about why you should put your savings in a cash Isa, where to find the best ones and why transfers might be the most important thing you can do.

Plus, who are the Dividend Heroes, what have they got to do with the Rolling Stones and what can we learn from them on long-term investing?

And finally, rising interest rates have severely hampered the amount of mortgage a monthly payment can buy, so, could you afford your home now?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and joining me and editor Simon Lab today is Pensions and Investments editor, Sanya Jeffries. I'm coming up, the great state pension cover-up.
0:13.2	DWP finally comes clean over a universal credit mess that could affect six million people. Also, reprieve for those wanting to buy state pension top-ups
0:22.0	as the deadline gets pushed back.
0:24.3	Also, today, we look at the best cash isis for transfers,
0:27.4	the dividend heroes that have been raising payouts
0:29.4	since the Rolling Stones release Ruby Tuesday,
0:31.9	and we ask, could you afford your home now?
0:35.2	Don't forget, we start out today with all the latest breaking money news. just go to this ismoney.co.uk or download the app. Don't forget, you can stay on top of
0:43.5	what's going on in the markets by tuning in to the Digest and Invest podcast by Itara. Go to your
0:47.9	regular podcast platform and listen on the go. Digest and Invest by Itora, the podcast for those
0:52.7	interested in trading and investing.
0:54.6	But first, an exclusive for this is money, which first exposed the scandal revealed that the national insurance records of many people on universal credit are riddled with holes.
1:03.7	After evading Tanya's questions, the government has finally fessed up that an automated system meant to update the state pension records of millions
1:12.8	of claimants broke in 2017, and it will take another year to fix all of the mistakes.
1:19.3	Tanya, another exclusive for you, and this is money. Remind us, though, what is this story about?
1:24.7	And what's the impact on lost national insurance credits?
1:28.9	Well, it affects people who have been on universal credit. They're an increasing number because,
1:34.5	as you recall, lots of people on different benefits have been put onto universal credit. So we're
1:41.3	talking about people, you know, with disabilities and long-term illnesses,
1:45.2	people who are unemployed, all sorts of different things. When they started ramping up the
1:51.0	number of people going on universal credit, it seems they started off with an automated system
1:56.3	for updating their state pension records. They get national insurance credits towards their state
	...

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