EasilyConfused wrote:My nagging worry is that it may be telling me as of today if I contribute no more full years NI I would receive £92.68 (£157.59-£64.91) a week from the State. Please tell me it isn't so
Ok, it isn't so.
On the assumption that the £157.59 is
your pension based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2016 then £157.59 is what you'll get.
The COPE is used to calculate the new state pension amount that goes into the "starting amount" (at 6-Apr-16) calculation. As the £157.59 is higher than the maximum of £155.65 under the new system we can tell at a glance, and without even considering your COPE, that your pension is calculated under the old system. But just in case you're curious, the arithmetic in your case will be:
Old system: full old system pension (as you have more that 30 years) of £119.30 + £38.29 earnings related (mostly/all Additional State Pension, may include some Graduated Retirement Benefit if you worked pre 1975) = £157.59
New system: full new system pension (as you have more that 35 years) of £155.65 minus COPE of £64.91 = £90.74
The starting amount at 6-Apr-16 is the higher of the two, £157.59, and is in fact also the final amount, 'cos as it more than the full new state pension of £155.65 there is no way to boost it any further.
There will, of course, be pension increases, which are currently by the "triple lock" for your first £155.65 and by CPI for the remaining £1.94 (known as the "protected" amount). The triple lock is not in law but is a promise of the current government up to 2020. After that it is very likely that increases on the first £155.65 will be indexed solely by national average earnings, which is what the pensions act specifies.
