Unexpected pension letter

[Pieman68]

Apologies for the uneducated post here but this has come as a bit of a shock

Received a letter this morning from a pension provider, who I was unaware of having a policy with any more and have never received anything from relating to this particular policy.

Long story short, it would appear that I set up a personal pension at the fledgling age of 20. But due to circumstances I only ever made 1 payment in (the company I worked for went bust)

I forgot all about it tbh and never updated any address details. However according to them they have tracked me down through another couple of small policies that I recently transferred away from them and linking my NI number

I hasten to add that this is a household name and I rang them to speak about it on the number through their website

It transpires that I contracted out of SERPS (I think) at the time and so there were some sort of government contributions made into this pot until 2012. There are 3 policy numbers that make up the pot, but 2 of them only show contributions marked as a "Contracting out rebate"

I intend to consult an IFA that is provided through work but does this annual rebate make sense? Any idea why it would end in 2012?

It's a substantial sum of money to contribute to my pension that I had no idea existed so just wondered if the wisdom of PH could explain how this worked and why I have £25k sat in a pot that I knew nothing about (yes, really)

[Groat]

The wife had exactly the same thing for a similar amount and for the same reason (ancient contracting out).

Told her to transfer it into an IM SIPP. (not my greatest suggestion).

[brightmotiv]

You’ll need to verify this with the provider but chances are this is legit.

I work in the industry and there are currently 1.6 million lost pensions worth £19.4 billion which providers are trying to get to customers.

It’s a growing problem as people move home/job more frequently: the government estimates there will be 50 million unclaimed pensions by 2050.

ABI press release here:

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2020/05/...

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Pieman68 said:

Any idea why it would end in 2012?

It's a substantial sum of money to contribute to my pension that I had no idea existed so just wondered if the wisdom of PH could explain how this worked and why I have £25k sat in a pot that I knew nothing about (yes, really)

OK, they all ended in 2012, that's when contracting out ended. Assuming from your forum name, you were born in 68. You started paying aged 20, so 1988. So you were contracted out for 24 years. I'm shocked it's only £25K. I was contracted out from 1987 to 2012 and my contracted out pension pot is £115K. Maybe I was a higher earner that you but £25K for 24 years sounds really feeble.

I'd be questioning that.

[JapanRed]

Groat said:

The wife had exactly the same thing for a similar amount and for the same reason (ancient contracting out).

Told her to transfer it into an IM SIPP. (not my greatest suggestion).

Why not your greatest suggestion Groat?

[Pieman68]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

OK, they all ended in 2012, that's when contracting out ended. Assuming from your forum name, you were born in 68. You started paying aged 20, so 1988. So you were contracted out for 24 years. I'm shocked it's only £25K. I was contracted out from 1987 to 2012 and my contracted out pension pot is £115K. Maybe I was a higher earner that you but £25K for 24 years sounds really feeble.

I'd be questioning that.

Thanks Twig

The 68 is actually my rugby shirt number

I was born in 75, so it was set up in August 1995 with the first rebate showing as going in in November 1996, and annual payments from then until 2012. As I said there are 2 policy numbers showing the rebates, with one being considerably larger than the other

Total payment in are £851 into one (current value £1585) and £12843.15 (current value £23300)

Would that make sense?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Pieman68 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

OK, they all ended in 2012, that's when contracting out ended. Assuming from your forum name, you were born in 68. You started paying aged 20, so 1988. So you were contracted out for 24 years. I'm shocked it's only £25K. I was contracted out from 1987 to 2012 and my contracted out pension pot is £115K. Maybe I was a higher earner that you but £25K for 24 years sounds really feeble.

I'd be questioning that.

Thanks Twig

The 68 is actually my rugby shirt number

I was born in 75, so it was set up in August 1995 with the first rebate showing as going in in November 1996, and annual payments from then until 2012. As I said there are 2 policy numbers showing the rebates, with one being considerably larger than the other

Total payment in are £851 into one (current value £1585) and £12843.15 (current value £23300)

Would that make sense?

Absolutely. You've paid in for 7 years less than I assumed, which makes a hell of a difference. Still, £25K is not to be sneezed at. It's literally money for nothing. Your state pension will end up little or no different from those who didn't contract out. And that £25K will continue to grow between now and your retirement.

[Pieman68]

brightmotiv said:

You’ll need to verify this with the provider but chances are this is legit.

I work in the industry and there are currently 1.6 million lost pensions worth £19.4 billion which providers are trying to get to customers.

It’s a growing problem as people move home/job more frequently: the government estimates there will be 50 million unclaimed pensions by 2050.

ABI press release here:

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2020/05/...

Brighmotiv

I believe with the exception of this one I have eyes on all of mine but am not so sure with regards to the wife. Is there any sort of central database or way of finding out?

[mikees]

Pieman68 said:

brightmotiv said:

You’ll need to verify this with the provider but chances are this is legit.

I work in the industry and there are currently 1.6 million lost pensions worth £19.4 billion which providers are trying to get to customers.

It’s a growing problem as people move home/job more frequently: the government estimates there will be 50 million unclaimed pensions by 2050.

ABI press release here:

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2020/05/...

Brighmotiv

I believe with the exception of this one I have eyes on all of mine but am not so sure with regards to the wife. Is there any sort of central database or way of finding out?

+1

[mikeiow]

JapanRed said:

Groat said:

The wife had exactly the same thing for a similar amount and for the same reason (ancient contracting out).

Told her to transfer it into an IM SIPP. (not my greatest suggestion).

Why not your greatest suggestion Groat?

Perhaps because it didn't involve buying a dodgy flat in Glasgow to let

[Mr Pointy]

mikeiow said:

JapanRed said:

Groat said:

The wife had exactly the same thing for a similar amount and for the same reason (ancient contracting out).

Told her to transfer it into an IM SIPP. (not my greatest suggestion).

Why not your greatest suggestion Groat?

Perhaps because it didn't involve buying a dodgy flat in Glasgow to let

And the world fell off a cliff not long after the transfer?

[brightmotiv]

mikees said:

Pieman68 said:

brightmotiv said:

You’ll need to verify this with the provider but chances are this is legit.

I work in the industry and there are currently 1.6 million lost pensions worth £19.4 billion which providers are trying to get to customers.

It’s a growing problem as people move home/job more frequently: the government estimates there will be 50 million unclaimed pensions by 2050.

ABI press release here:

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2020/05/...

Brighmotiv

I believe with the exception of this one I have eyes on all of mine but am not so sure with regards to the wife. Is there any sort of central database or way of finding out?

+1

Hi both

There's a few options here:

1) The government website is a good place to start - https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details - this has details of the pensions tracing service

2) The unclaimed assets register run by Experian - think there is a charge for this however https://www.uar.co.uk/

3) If you are using an IFA they can search under your NI number for policies I believe

Hope you both have success. I think the average lost pension pot is £13k so it's worth the effort if you do have a lost pension.

[The Leaper]

brightmotiv said:

1) The government website is a good place to start - https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details - this has details of the pensions tracing service

The government-sponsored website is good IF you know the employer or administrator or the insurance company involved with a particular pension plan, otherwise it is no good at all for general searches on the lines of "do I have a pension somewhere?". In other words, you need to have a good idea of a starting point.

Also, avoid using websites that indicate that they will find your pensions for you. They use websites that are free to all and they charge a fee of a large percentage of the value of the pension that they MAY discover. And that fee does not necessarily come out of the pension pot: you may need to pay it out of separate resources.

The message is clear: keep the administrators and/or the insurance company of the relevant pension plan always informed of your latest address so they can contact you. If you don't, you cannot expect them to somehow contact you at a later date when the pension should come into payment.

R.