Threat to my final salary pension?

Collymac · 25 May 2012 at 8:27PM

I will be 65 years old in July but have a long term and quite a severe balance problem (5 years) which has prevented me from doing my job as a driver/salesman but I’m still registered as an employee with my company. (Possibly to do with being over 60 and have a final salary pension?).
Initially I received 3 weeks sick pay and was then replaced but I knew this would happen. I then subsequently lived off benefits and savings with the only communication being a yearly letter asking for permission to view a doctor’s report and attending a company medical to which I agreed but nothing ever came of it.
Yesterday (Thursday) a registered letter arrived from the company saying they have read the doctor’s report. There were no questions about my symptoms or how I’m affected by them.
It also contained the words “fit to work and have chosen not to” and also “you no longer wish to be employed by < company> and assume you wish your employment to be terminated”. This will be 2nd June 2012. All pretty sore stuff!

This was not signed by a regional manager (Scotland) but by a company director (UK).
I have been on the ‘phone all day trying to speak to this director but with no success and H.R. said they would call back but never did.
What worries me is as my retirement is in 7 weeks is there any threat to my final salary pension?
Much obliged.

Margey · 25 May 2012 at 9:15PM

Hello,

have you contacted any kind off establishment that could offer more advice on your situation, i have attached one site here.

Have you checked the details of your pension, this may hold more information.

Hope this helped

Margey

Andy_L · 25 May 2012 at 9:22PM

I would suspect you have been on unpaid sick leave for ~5 years

The pension you have accrued till your sick pay is unaffected, its possible you may have acrued some extra benifits by being on the books for the past 5 years but unlikely.

Did you actively persue ill-health retirement when you stoped work?

Collymac · 25 May 2012 at 9:46PM

Thanks for the quick responce Margey and Andy L.

There is no reference in the pension explanatory booklet
regarding dismissal and effects on pension but I'll have a closer look at the TPAS site.

The final preparation for my final salary pension is ongoing at the moment and no, I didn't go for ill health retirement as I always hoped, wrongly as it turned out, that things would get better.

mgdavid · 25 May 2012 at 9:51PM

It depends on the particular pension scheme rules, which you need to obtain a copy of asap.
Usually final salary pensions are based on average salary of the last 3 working years (or similar), you need to understand how they will work yours out if they haven't paid you for 5 years. Talk to the Pension scheme administrators, don't forget they are supposed to be totally separate and independent from the company so will not be 'conspiring' with HR or managers etc.
I'd suggest you need to reply to, and repudiate, that letter pretty quick - but need professional advice first. Hopefully others more experienced and knowledgable will be along soon to help out.

Margey · 25 May 2012 at 10:05PM

I definitely think that this requires PROPER advice especially with the timespan until you retire.

This is just my opinion, but if you have saved into a final salary pension during your working life then that is money you should receive. Many workers leave pots when the change employer not knowing that they had been saving or they have forgotten about them. So i would say, and this is my guess, your pot should be ok.

I mean its not like your case is unique, as many employees have to stop working for whatever reason that is out of their hands and i wouldnt have thought these people would have been penalised. But definitely get some advice from a more powerful source.

Margey

Collymac · 25 May 2012 at 11:00PM

Thanks for that Margey.

Maybe being involved with 4 buyouts the last 27 years has made me a wee bit paranoid but I'll talk to a few people on Monday.
Cheers again.

BobQ · 25 May 2012 at 11:18PM

Collymac wrote: »

I will be 65 years old in July but have a long term and quite a severe balance problem (5 years) which has prevented me from doing my job as a driver/salesman but I’m still registered as an employee with my company.

(It also contained the words “fit to work and have chosen not to” and also “you no longer wish to be employed by < company> and assume you wish your employment to be terminated”.This will be 2nd June 2012. All pretty sore stuff!

What worries me is as my retirement is in 7 weeks is there any threat to my final salary pension?
Much obliged.

You need good advice from an expert.

I am assuming your scheme specifies a normal retirement age at 65? My question would be what do your scheme rules say about the situation. Had you left the firm at 60, you would presumably have had a preserved pension based on your pensionable pay at the time. In your situation how would your scheme assess your final salary when your pension is terminated?

BobQ · 25 May 2012 at 11:26PM

Collymac wrote: »

Thanks for the quick responce Margey and Andy L.

There is no reference in the pension explanatory booklet
regarding dismissal and effects on pension but I'll have a closer look at the TPAS site.

The final preparation for my final salary pension is ongoing at the moment and no, I didn't go for ill health retirement as I always hoped, wrongly as it turned out, that things would get better.

I should not worry unless you have a reason to be concerned. You say "The final preparation for my final salary pension is ongoing..." Have you received a statement of what your pension will be and what final salary its based on? If its what you expected I should not worry.

Also dismissal is a term that sounds bad but unless your job has a defined reuirement age at which its compulsory to retire, age discrimination means that you either have to resign or be dismissed in order to draw your pension.

Hope all works out for you

xylophone · 25 May 2012 at 11:50PM

This seems an odd affair! I know that "hope springs eternal" etc but surely after three or four years of company medicals and no improvement, an ill-health pension should have been considered? The "fit to work and chosen not to" also seems rather strange. The implication seems to be that the company doctor thought that you were fit to work - if so, why did he not recommend to the employer that you should either resign or be dismissed? Is their some clause in employment law in Scotland that prevents this from happening or that allows unpaid sick leave at the employee's option between 60-65?

At all events, it would appear that arrangements to pay you a pension are in hand so that as a previous poster has suggested, the letter is a "form of words" that gets you legally off the books and onto pension?

jamesd · 26 May 2012 at 3:03AM

Knowing what the doctor's report says would be useful. Particularly whether it said that you are able to have a driving license and do your normal work.

I'm very suspicious about a change like this just before you retire and that it may be intended to deprive you of some pension benefit in some way.

Threat to my final salary pension?

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