What happens if I go into hospital?

Your State Retirement Pension will not usually be affected if you go into hospital – you should continue to receive it for the whole time you are in hospital.

For more information see our free information sheet Going Into Hospital (PDF), available to download from this page, or see leaflet GIHA5DWP, 'Going into hospital', which you can get from your local benefits office.

What happens if I go to live overseas?

State Retirement Pension will still be paid to you if you go to live abroad. However, when pensions go up in the UK (‘uprating’) you will not automatically receive the increased rate if you are living overseas.

• If you are living in a European Economic Area (EEA) country, or in one of the non-EC countries which has an agreement with the UK, you will receive an uprated pension.
  
• However, if you are living in a country which doesn’t have a special arrangement with the UK, your pension will stay frozen at the rate that existed when you moved abroad.

For more information, see leaflet GL29 'Going abroad and social security benefits', which you can get from your local benefits office. Or you can contact the international Pension Centre at the DWP on 0191 218 7777 for advice about benefits abroad.

What happens if I used to live abroad?

If you have lived and worked in another country, and paid few
or no NI contributions in the UK, you may still be entitled to a
basic State Retirement Pension. If you lived in an EEA country, any social security contributions you made in that country may help you to meet the contribution conditions in the UK. You may also be entitled to a separate State Retirement Pension from the other country or countries in which you lived.

If you lived in a country which is not part of the EEA, you may
still be entitled to some State Retirement Pension in the UK. Ask your local pension centre or benefits office for more advice if you have lived abroad and you now want to claim a State Retirement Pension in this country.

If you are new to this country you may not be entitled to receive
any State Retirement Pension at all.

Can I defer my pension?

You can get extra pension or a lump sum payment if you put off receiving your State Retirement Pension after you reach pension age. New rules introduced in April 2005 mean that there is now no limit to how long you can defer your pension. But it is important to think carefully about whether deferring your pension is the right choice for you or not.

If you do want to defer your pension, you have two options:

• Extra pension: This is an extra amount added each week to your pension once you decide to claim it. You must defer your pension for at least five weeks to get any extra pension. As a rough guide, you should get an extra 10.4 per cent of pension if you defer for one year and do not claim another earnings-replacement benefit such as Bereavement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or Incapacity Benefit.
  
• Lump sum: You can now choose to receive a one-off taxable lump sum payment instead of getting extra pension each week. You will have to defer your pension for at least a year to receive it. The lump sum payment is made up of the pension that you would have received during that time, plus interest. You will also get your normal State Retirement Pension. This does not include any period before 6 April 2005, when different rules applied.

You don’t have to choose between the lump sum or extra
pension until you claim your pension. You can claim your pension whenever you want, but can only defer once. So, if you started claiming your pension when you reached retirement age, you can still choose to cancel your claim and defer. However, you can only do this once.

You can get a copy of the Government’s guide to deferring
pensions by calling 08457 31 32 33 and asking for leaflets SPD1 and SPD2.