BMC Retirement Scheme

E2R

I wonder if anyone can help me get some action to help my neighbour whose husband died in 1995. When clearing a cupboard two Northern Assurance Co Ltd certificates dated 1960 were found regarding The British Motor Corporation Limited. - Reitrement Benefit Scheme. After some research I found that Norwich Union now administer the scheme but received a letter from BMW (UK) Pensions Services Limited saying that BMC periodically issued certificates and the final one was in 1975 and it is only that one which holds any value. As the neighbour does not have those certificates which have never been claimed can any leverage be applied to BMW to pay her the value of the benefit scheme?

jh2009

I think you may already have done so, but the “Pension Tracing” service is a way of tracing who holds a benefit. A register is kept of all past/present pension schemes, with any name changes, and who holds these now, and so this is a first step to tracing an old benefit. If you haven’t done this then it might be worth doing this, in case you have the wrong administrator.

In terms of the certificates, then if you have not already done so, you should forward copies to the administrator. In any correspondence you should ask what happened to any benefits linked to these, and for them to provide any evidence of what happened.

The problems with old certificates is that some schemes are better than others in terms of record keeping as paper records from that time are not always kept but members/family have the right to be told if these were ever cashed, refunded, etc.

My gut feeling based on the dates and response you have had about 1975 is that there is a good chance that the scheme may be right. This is as the law was different in the 1950s/60s to what applies today. If you left pre about 1975 there was less protection than exists today. It was quite common if you left and weren’t retiring to just to be given a refund of your pension contributions (quite often without any paperwork, and quite often just added to a final wage slip), hence why some people for honest reasons kept the certificates given, and why tracing old benefits can end up in a bit of a stand off between the scheme and member.

The law changed in the mid 70s to require benefits to be retained (not refunded) in the scheme if you were a member of the scheme for at least 5 years, and in the 1980s this was reduced to 2 years.

So, this is likely to be why they are saying post 75 certificates only have any value,........... but that doesnt mean you should give up. The truth is either:

1. They are right and all benefits were refunded when he left employment
Or
2. As someone who has had to deal with this in the past given my pensions experience, receiving these old certificates are usually a nightmare for a pension administrator. They are usually young and so have no knowledge of schemes history, and usually have to spend a lot of time looking at poor and ancient records. Some will just try and fob you off or only look on computerized systems following an initial enquiry. Its a bit of a minefield but i found in experience if you persisted you will get a more detailed response if you have had the misfortune of someone who has not looked into this in enough detail at the first stage.

I would do the following:

• Write with copies of the certificates.
• Demand an explanation as to what happened to the benefits.
• Confirm clearly there is a surviving spouse and that they were dependant on their husbands income (this does make any need to provide an answer a bit more urgent if there is a widow rather than distant relatives, friends looking for a payout, etc)

If they write back and repeat the 1975 argument, then id reply and say your neighbours husband had no paperwork suggesting these had no value, and demand a further explanation.

Theres a good chance that no benefits will be payable, so id accept anything really as a bonus in this case.

If any benefits were payable then I would not expect these to be substantial as any benefits from that time usually did not get inflation protection, so if a cheque for something silly like £38 did arrive, then this would be why!

Ultimately, if you end up in a stand off and you are unhappy with the response given the scheme has an official complaints procedure, and i would make use of this rather than going to a solicitor.

E2R

Many thanks

I did contact the pension tracing people who suggested I contact the Pensions Advisory Service who were extremely helpful. They suggested that the 1975 changes will probably be advantageous in this case and requested that I send copies of everything for them to pursue. Watch this space.

As our expectations are low it would be great if they were able to help this poor old lady.