Opted out of SERPS?
Discussion
For 10 years, from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, I was in a company pension scheme & contracted out so that proportion of my NI contributions was paid into the company scheme. The company also paid the equvalent of 13.5% of my salary into the scheme.
Some time between my leaving the company & my retirement the then Govt brought in a ruling that no company scheme was to be allowed to pay a final pension below the extra the state would have paid in state pension if the person had not contracted out.
The scheme I was in promptly reduced the pension to be paid to match the extra the state would have paid if I had not contracted out. So I received no pension from the 10 years of 13.5% of my earnings that the company had paid into the scheme. I complained to the Pension Ombudsman but was told the company's action was not illegal. I also received a letter from the scheme stating that the state would pay an increase on the pension each year! They couldn't tell me how to claim the increaser though - no surprise there.
Some time between my leaving the company & my retirement the then Govt brought in a ruling that no company scheme was to be allowed to pay a final pension below the extra the state would have paid in state pension if the person had not contracted out.
The scheme I was in promptly reduced the pension to be paid to match the extra the state would have paid if I had not contracted out. So I received no pension from the 10 years of 13.5% of my earnings that the company had paid into the scheme. I complained to the Pension Ombudsman but was told the company's action was not illegal. I also received a letter from the scheme stating that the state would pay an increase on the pension each year! They couldn't tell me how to claim the increaser though - no surprise there.
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