What options does my mum have? 65, no property, no pension.

[Liverpoolgirl50]

As the title states - I’m nervous for my mum. She’s 65, privately rents (has never owned) and hasn’t paid into a private pension. Unfortunately my dad left her in a lot of debt so any savings she had went towards paying that off. She is on a salary of 26k and can cover her outgoings now, but isn’t going to be able to work forever..

She’s on a list for a council property but is very low down for priority. She has done a calculation for universal credit should she not be working and it isn’t enough to cover her bills etc.

She’s told me that she’s starting to worry as she gets older. My husband and I have a young baby and really don’t have the space for her to live with us, but if that’s the only option we have then I imagine we’d have to make it work.

Does anyone here know what her options are, or who she could speak to for advice?

Thanks everyone, this has genuinely taken a huge weight off my shoulders 💖

My Mum was still working when she became eligible for state pension.
She was advised to take the pension and not defer while she was still working as the very small increase in rate for deferring wasn't worth it. So for a while she had pension plus wages.

Plan of action:

1. Check she has sufficient NI contributions for a full state pension.
2. Decide if she plans to retire when 66 at her State retirement age.
3. Use AgeUK benefits calculator online to see what she might be entitled to including bus pass; or contact their helpline.
4. If she plans to carry on working beyond State retirement age, look into deferring the State pension for higher benefits later (I would be cautious with this option and look into how it might adversely affect other benefits).
5. If she doesn't defer - set up a savings account for her to save the additional income to keep as a rainy day fund.

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/benefits-calculator/

Be wary of those over 55 retirement properties.

If she is able to , she can keep working (even very part time) while claiming her pension. Although it will be worth doing some calculations as to how that impacts any other benefit entitlements.

Did her husband have a private pension? Often the surviving spouse gets an element if so.

Also, a long shot but always worth checking if there any local almshouse charities. I volunteer for one and we treat our residents really well and they have a great community too

https://www.almshouses.org/

Why? She's not going to be buying a property, it would be social housing.

Look to see if any council sheltered housing in her area

@RebelMoon @Aavalon57

because they often come with much inflated charges for anything the social housing providers can pluck out of the air and some do very little for the money they fleece off the tenants of these sheltered housing complexes.

Not all places I expect, but too many and the costs can cause abject misery.

Plus they can often be really noisy places as there's a high turnover of tenants and so much updating and building works that goes on.

And some of the residents can be too cantankerous, mentally unstable, obsessive for other residents to cope with.

I used to visit a few of these places for the RVS reading/library service and heard all the nightmares residents had!

I'm 61 nearly 62 and my pension age is 67. My sister was born in 59 and her pension age is 66.
So your Mom is either 66 or 67 depending on her birthday.
Our mother lives in an over 60's private block of flats, and some are rented out, one friend living there gets her pension and pension credit, no council tax due to getting benefits and is better off than my mother on her private pension.

It's time that shared accommodation for older single people became popular. There are many, many of us in your Mum's shoes, often financially wrecked by an ex spouse.
I'd happily share a house with 2 others my age.
That's where I'd start looking for your Mum.

Why? Can you clarify?

That’s not correct calculation

She will have at least 2 hundred a week on pension and pension credit, she won't have much rent to top up and her council tax will be fully funded she will be fine.

That's not right. Mine is 67 and I'm only 54

I’m glad this thread has come back around, my mum actually got approved for a council property so everything feels a lot less stressful now!

That's great news @Liverpoolgirl50 . Hopefully both you and she can relax a bit now. Thanks for the update🙂

Are you sure she has no private pension? It has been auto-enrolment for a number of years now so she would have had to have actively decided to cancel her pension.

That's the best outcome OP - a secure place to live, and when she retired (or if she can't work) she doesn't need to worry about a shortfall. Must be a big relief!

That’s great news OP

So glad she's going to have an affordable housing situation for retirement, they should cover all of the rent unless its sheltered, then she may have to top up abit but she will get enough to live on from pension and pension credit.

Hope she has a long, happy and stress free retirement OP

@Liverpoolgirl50 OddBoots has a good point. Is your Mum sure she wasn't enrolled into an employers workplace pensionscheme? I presume if she wasn't, she decided to opt out? As OddBoots says, the auto enrol became law quite a few years ago

can you please tell me, how did your mum get accepted for a council property?

My mum is the same age and the exact same position and I’m really worried

Don’t you need to have a housing need to get accepted? This is what it says on my council website

• you have a housing need, e.g. you are homeless or unsafe where you live

Thank you

@Queenoftheuniverseandgalaxy I’m not sure if different councils have different rules but she basically joined the list and she was allowed to bid on properties, until eventually she was at the top of the list for a property that she bid on. It can be a long wait so I’d probably speak to your local council 😊

How on earth would she be better off than your mum? Do you mean your DM is going to be 'penalized' for "doing the right thing?" She's in a very privileged position if she has a pension and owns her own home. As a pp said, so many don't, through no fault of their own and it's a very precarious place to be in at a vulnerable time of their lives.