Help regarding a Work Pension

MrsPass

Hi Guys

I dont know if this post is in the right place - so apologies if it isn't.

I am in the process of being made redundant from work and I have been contributing to a pension scheme for around 5yrs. I wanted to know if I could withdraw the funds that I had paid in and cancel my pension - however I have now been told that as I have been contributing to the scheme for over 2yrs that I can not touch the money and it will be kept with the company and they will freeze it or I can transfer it upon leaving to a new employer :mad: . My current company says this is due to inland revenue rules .

Does anyone know if this is the case or do you think its worth fighting - i'm really not sure about this.

Thanks in advance.

mountainofdebt

Nope this is right - if you had less than 2 yrs service then you might have had an option to have your contributions back less tax, depending on what type of pension scheme it was.

MrsPass

Oh well - story of my life!

Thanks

ceridwen

BUT.....I know it used to be possible to take a "trivial" pension as a lump sum at age 50 and then forget about it - you've had the lot from that employer. So - if one had only been paying into a company pension for a limited period of time - then the second you get to 50 take "early retirement" from the Scheme and get that amount of money as a lump sum.

I dont know whether this still applies (I would hazard a guess that it does - but bear in mind that I seem to recall that as from some point in 2010 the "early retirement age" across Society will be changed from 50 to 55) - so I would imagine that this would be affected by that age change.

So - check that out and see what the current position is and if you reach the relevant age soon - then take the pension as that "early retirement" lump sum the second you reach that relevant age - IF its with a private company. If its with a public sector employer on the other hand - then a lot more thought is warranted on the subject...

I cant recall the exact quantity of pension money that counts as "trivial" - if you only had a year or two in with the employer in question then it would be likely to be "trivial" unless you were well-paid. 5 years - I dont know on that one.