State Pension

[TarasHarp55]

To ask why DWP want to know about change of circumstances regarding a state pension.

My sister gets a state pension and when she recently told them about a change of address they said she must let them know if there is any other change because it might affect her pension. She isn't on pension credit so she wonders what could affect it. Surely her pension wouldn't be affected by any change in circumstance. Anybody shed any light on this?

Just sounds like a standard template letter, nothing more.
Someone might change address because their husband died, and them not realise that they could be entitled to some of his pension if they don’t have full qualifying years themselves. That’s a legacy situation dependent on age - it won’t apply to everyone.
So they’re just using the opportunity to remind people, that’s all.

You need to tell them about several different change in circumstances, including change of address or bank account to ensue they have the correct contact details. Other Chang of circ would be things like if you get married, divorced or are widowed, go into hospital or a care home, move abroad - there may be more but those are the main ones on the top of my head.

Hi, I work for the State pension dept @Allywill has pretty much covered the change of circs we need to know about. But nothing actually affects your payments of SP, you will always be entitled and we will continue to pay it regardless of change of circs. We need to be kept up to date re change of address/bank details for obvious reasons. If you move abroad, you'll still be entitled to SP however your account would be transferred to the International Pension Centre as we can't send post abroad or pay to an abroad bank account from the UK pension centre. The interest rate may also be frozen depending on which country you move to. We need to know about lengthy hospital stays but again won't affect payment (unless you're on disability bens or have a premium on pension credit). Hosp stays can affect winter fuel payment too but only if you've been in for over 52 weeks. Care home admissions for state pension purposes is literally just a change of address but can affect other benefits. As for getting remarried/divorced/widows, this can mean you're entitled to a higher amount of state pension which is why we ask you to notify us. Hope this helps!

Yes thank you, that does help.