Can anyone with financial knowledge help?

[itsybitsy]

I've just been to check my state pension on the You Gov portal. I found the following information and I'm not sure what that relates to. It states that I will get an additional (very small!) sum each month because of this COPE. Is this anything to do with my workplace pension, that myself and my employer both paid into, or is that a separate thing?

You were contracted out
In the past you’ve been ‘contracted out’ of the additional State Pension.

When you were contracted out:

you and your employers paid lower rate National Insurance contributions, or
some of your National Insurance contributions were paid into another pension scheme, such as a personal or stakeholder pension
The amount of additional State Pension you would have been paid if you had not been contracted out is known as the Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE).

[Arzosah]

itsy I can't help directly, because I was always self employed, but this is a Which page that has further info: https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions- ... headline_3
COPE is about halfway down the page, and the next heading, Is My State Pension Forecast Accurate, is also relevant. Good luck.

[Jamesey1981]

At some point you had a workplace pension and some of the national insurance that would have gone into your pension pot went into the workplace pension.

I'm not sure if it's an extra payment though, I think it is telling you what you would have got had the bits that went into your workplace pension gone into your state pension pot.

If it's a small amount and it's not going to make any difference then you might as well wait and see.

It could be a small amount of compensation if it is a payment coming in, some of the people that got contracted out were mis sold and ripped off so I know the government were looking at it. I think it's a "Here's what you could have won" scenario though.

I'm not a financial adviser, so it would pay to check, I'm not qualified to advise on pensions.

[itsybitsy]

At some point you had a workplace pension and some of the national insurance that would have gone into your pension pot went into the workplace pension.

I'm not sure if it's an extra payment though, I think it is telling you what you would have got had the bits that went into your workplace pension gone into your state pension pot.

If it's a small amount and it's not going to make any difference then you might as well wait and see.

It could be a small amount of compensation if it is a payment coming in, some of the people that got contracted out were mis sold and ripped off so I know the government were looking at it. I think it's a "Here's what you could have won" scenario though.

I'm not a financial adviser, so it would pay to check, I'm not qualified to advise on pensions.

Thanks you.

Trust me when I tell you it's a small amount - miniscule. Old age destitution here I come!

[jansman]

At some point you had a workplace pension and some of the national insurance that would have gone into your pension pot went into the workplace pension.

I'm not sure if it's an extra payment though, I think it is telling you what you would have got had the bits that went into your workplace pension gone into your state pension pot.

If it's a small amount and it's not going to make any difference then you might as well wait and see.

It could be a small amount of compensation if it is a payment coming in, some of the people that got contracted out were mis sold and ripped off so I know the government were looking at it. I think it's a "Here's what you could have won" scenario though.

I'm not a financial adviser, so it would pay to check, I'm not qualified to advise on pensions.

Thanks you.

Trust me when I tell you it's a small amount - miniscule. Old age destitution here I come!

If it's any consolation,I suspect that pensions,other than the state provision,will tank over the coming years. What is coming will make 1928 look like a picnic.Buddy can you spare a dime?

[Arwen Thebard]

"If it's any consolation,I suspect that pensions,other than the state provision,will tank over the coming years. What is coming will make 1928 look like a picnic.Buddy can you spare a dime? "

I agree. But why not the state pension scheme fail as well? IMO Anyone in their (50's???) now is unlikely to get a state pension worth buying more than a loaf of bread. Sounds almost inconceivable doesn't it?

[jansman]

"If it's any consolation,I suspect that pensions,other than the state provision,will tank over the coming years. What is coming will make 1928 look like a picnic.Buddy can you spare a dime? "

I agree. But why not the state pension scheme fail as well? IMO Anyone in their (50's???) now is unlikely to get a state pension worth buying more than a loaf of bread. Sounds almost inconceivable doesn't it?

This is what I am thinking now. A comment on the BBC by Laura Kuennsberg ( I KNOW that's not spelt right!) about whether ,after all this,government will be able offer no more than temporary state help,rather than the system we have now.