Pension advice desperately needed please

[Pensionadviceplease]

I’m 45, I don’t have any type of pension. I don’t work and on UC so really unsure if I’m even allowed to start a pension? Or is it too late should I do some other kind of scheme ?

I have zero knowledge about most financial things but really need to do something I think ?

Have you ever worked?
if you go to the government gateway they have loads of pension advice and you can also get a state pension forecast
but yes, you can start a pension if you don’t work

Only for 6 months when I was 18

But I’ve received child benefit and then in more recent years carers allowance so have all NI contributions except one year (2000)

What's your reason for not working? I ask, as if you were at home with children and claiming children benefit, your state pension should be up to date as far as contributions go.

Cross post.

Can you see how much you have to pay to fulfil your missing year?

So this was before opt in was a thing so you’re unlikely to have anything
i think you need to understand want your state pension is likely to be as
if you want to start you’ll need funds to put aside and if you’re not working and on benefits how realistic if is this ?

So deffo look at your state pension forecast

This is what I’m not sure about as I don’t know how much you need to pay in per month etc to even know if it’s an option plus I’m not sure if I’m allowed to on UC as after a certain amount will it be counted as savings?

I’ve looked at it before and it says I cant pay that one year (it was 2000?)

No, its not counted as savings for UC purposes, only any lump sum you might draw from it.

Did you go through to the page where it tells you if you'll be short on full contributions?

Do you think you will ever work or do your caring responsibilities mean that is unlikely? Realistically if you are surviving now on carers allowance/UC then all that will happen when you reach retirement age, probably 68, you will move to state pension or pension credit if you don't have enough NI contributions although it sounds like you will.

I’ll double check it was a while ago .

I’m sure I read on here that if you would only ever have a tiny pension you may be better off not having. One as the small amount you got could tip you over the threshold for certain benefits and you would be worse off.

Yes, this is correct. As the benefits system stands at the moment, you're better off getting pension credit than having a private or state pension that puts you just over the pension credit entitlement threshold.

This is because if you get any amount of pension credit, even just 10p, you're entitled to have your whole rent covered (up to the lha cap if you're in private rented), get better help with council tax, get the winter fuel payment and warm homes discount, and get a free TV licence.

OP if your surviving on UC now, your benefits income will go up quite a bit when you reach pension age.

While you can save into a SIPP without it being treated as capital, I doubt you'll be able to save enough to be a significant help to you, and you risk actually leaving yourself worse off