Old Age Pension

[Redhelen72]

So MIL has said that she only gets a tiny pension because she has never been an employee.
She owned a hotel and sold that 40 years ago bought a house and has lived on the remainder since.
She is now saying that she cannot afford to pay a subscription for a 'fall' button.
If she only has this small pension is she entitled to other help or is she out in the cold as a former self employed person?
Thank you

[THECORBYLOON]

If neither her nor her late husband paid NI Contributions, she would not have received any widows benefit or reirement pension when she died.

There is a pension, Category D, which is paid when folk reached age eighty (before April 2016) and that is paid at the same rate as a single person's rate, currently £85 per week.

[andres]

If she owned a hotel then surely she would have been liable, assuming that she had staff, for employers insurance. She is somewhat of a mystery.

[Redhelen72]

I think they mainly ran it themselves maybe a day cleaner or 2.
His older brother has never got involved in the money side of things . He seemed somewhat surprised when we told him we were covering some of the bills

[MissTerious]

She will be entitled to pension credits and other allowances.

[MissTerious]

Is her small pension a state pension?

[Redhelen72]

Not sure LL
She just happened to drop this into conversation when Mr Red asked her why she wasn’t getting her fall alarm

[barry1010]

Pension credit depends on savings

[MissTerious]

It would seem to me Red that she's not being very truthful, especially as she won't let you near her financial matters.

[MissTerious]

Yes it does Barry, but I wouldn't be taking money from my family if I had any savings above the maximum allowed.

[weecalf]

Old age pension what a name to give anything .To get this funding in most cases the people would have had to work 50 years . Better name would be “Thank you payments “

[Hazlinny]

Red/ Might be an idea to contact AgeNI either in person or via their website. The issue is an absolute minefield!

[Redhelen72]

Hazel she is in England.
I know she gets a small pension from Belgium about £500 a year

[Maydup]

Try this calculator using what info you have and a few best guesses just to give you an idea of what Pension Credit she might be entitled to.

Savings can be up to £23k for PC, but as others have said, if she has savings then she doesnt need anyone's help.

[DTCwordfan]

savings also include any property or share of it that she may have....and that quickly destroys candidacy for pension credit, even if it can't be easily liquidated.

[Maydup]

Forgot the link sorry

https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

[Maydup]

Does not include your main home though DTC.

[goodgoalie]

//Savings can be up to £23k for PC, but as others have said, if she has savings then she doesnt need anyone's help.//

That's not true. Any savings above £10,000 and the amount you receive in PC is reduced on a tapering scale.

[barry1010]

She wouldn't be the first miser accepting handouts from relatives to be found to have a small, or even large, fortune when she dies.

If she is not prepared to either seek help or discuss her finances with you all you can do is shrug and tell her to get on with it. Thinking about stopping the financial help you are already giving her as well.