Trying to trace Money Purchase Pension Scheme account from 1988-1998

Jupiler

Good evening / morning / afternoon all,

My wife has been trying to trace a 'lost' Money Purchase Pension Scheme fund from her employment at a Motorway Service Area between 1988 and 1998, so far without luck, and I wondered whether anyone here might be able to shed any light on things or have any suggestions (especially as some alarm bells are now ringing in my head, see below..........).

Unfortunately we overlooked advising a change of address to the Trustees in 1998 during the upheaval of my redundancy and our move from Kent to South Yorkshire (and thus my wife's forced resignation from her job at the Service Area concerned). On moving back to Kent a couple of years ago I have been a bit more efficient in sorting out paperwork/changes of address etc and found that this had slipped through the net last time.

We have the annual Statement of Benefits from the scheme up to and including 1st October 1997. The later ones are headed "Granada Money Purchase Pension Scheme" so it seems they reflect the current ownership of the company at the time my wife left it. As at this date the value of the Personal Retirement Account was £7,424.54.

So far, we have submitted all the details to The Pension Tracing Service of the Department of Work and Pensions, followed up their leads, and also submitted a search with Experian's Unclaimed Assets Register (UAR) but alas had a 'nothing found' response from them.

During the period of my wife's employment, her Service Area was operated by three different companies, as ownership of the site changed hands. These were:
Rank Motorway Services Ltd
Pavilion Road Services
Granada Services Ltd (part of Granada Group PLC)
(The site subsequently became part of the Moto services Group, but after my wife's time there).

The last known address for the scheme was the Granada Money Purchase Pension Scheme Trustee, c/o Lindsay Peake, Berry Birch & Noble, West Wickham, Kent.

The Pensions Tracing Service pointed us in the direction of Zurich Assurance Ltd, Corporate Retirement Services, who found no trace of the scheme on their records. The Pensions Tracing Service also suggested Rank Group, Group Benefits Department, who confirmed that my wife was in the Rank Money Purchase Pension Scheme until March 1992 when they assume that the benefits were transferred to the new owners at that time, Pavilion Road Services. I have been unable to trace an address for Pavilion.

At this point we tried the Unclaimed Assets Register, but this has now also drawn a blank.

The alarm bells are ringing with me for two reasons. First, I think I recall some sort of scandal involving Granada Pensions in the earlier part of this decade, and secondly, internet searches I have made about Berry Birch and Noble also reveal some irregularities / financial failure.

We'll carry on searching, but if anyone can shed any light on any of the above we'd be very interested to hear from you.

Thank-you for reading

Debt_Free_Chick

Might be worth enquiring with Compass as they acquired Granada on 2000. Soon after, much of Granada was sold off again, but the pension scheme might have been retained by Compass. Worth a try.

jh2009

Legally, anyone with a money purchase pension must have a statement sent to them once a year, so its likely whoever holds this benefit has tried to write to your old address and has had mail returned. Your benefit will be intact but they just dont have your contact details. This is all quite common in pensions.

As a thought, was the scheme contracted out? (if the statements you have show any "Protected rights" elements in the paperwork you have then the answer to this is yes). If it does, it may be worth contacting either HMRC or the pension service, who administer the state pension benefits. If you were contracted out, then they will have records to show the name of the scheme that holds the contracted out benefits which in turn then should lead you to find the benefits. If your benefit was not contracted out then they will probably not be able to help you.

I think the answer from the rank groups a bit surprising. If they say they held a benefit until March 1992, they should have details of the scheme they transferred this to/when they did this, etc. They have to do this with transfers, as if they dont keep complete info, theres no proof they have transferred it properly, and they could potentially end up liable! It just might be that you dealt with someone in your original query who hasnt looked into it that throughly, and if you ask again for more detailed answers, then you might get a more detailed response. It might be worth a try, but apologies if you have already tried it.

Is there any chance as well, that this pension was transferred into a new pension since 1997, eg an employers pension? This could have been done say ten years ago, and these things can get forgotten, especially if an old statement turns up many years later. If theres any doubt ask your current scheme if you have one who'd soon confirm if any transfer payment was ever received.

If the worst happens and all your attempts draw a blank, then close to retirement, (could be 3-6 months from the schemes retirement date) whichever scheme holds this benefit will do it all if can to find you (it otherwise has to maintain a benefit in the chance that someone one day comes forward). They usually will trace you through your national insurance number. They go to the DWP and say heres someones ni number we have benefits for, can you forward this letter to them. The letter will basically then ask you to contact them for details of your benefits.

Jupiler

Thank-you both for your replies.

I can confirm today that Debt_Free_Chick's suggestion of Compass Group scored a direct hit and the problem has now been resolved.

Many, many thanks :T:T:T

:beer:

Debt_Free_Chick

Glad to have helped. And thank you for posting back as often we never know what the final outcome is. This thread might be helpful for others with old Granada pensions.

Thanks