Opt out of SERPS/S2P?

cabriokas

How can I find out if I opted out of SERPS or not. I seem to remember a good while ago (i'm 52 now) that I may have done via an insurance agent near to where I lived at the time. I get documentation from Standard Life every year that says about a pension, but i'm not sure if this is linked to the SERPS or not.
Can anyone advise me on this please, I am concerned as I have been reading bits about mis selling of SERPS and not sure if i have been involved in this unwittingly.
Thank you

jamesd

Don't worry about mis-selling of contracting out, it's mostly a lot of hot air about nothing for someone of your age. If you check when you stopped being contracted out, if you did, that would help to more definitively establish that it was fine.

The best thing to do is get a State Pension Forecast. That will tell you whether you're contracted out or not. If you're contracted out the How we work out your pension section will have text saying "you are paying into another pension scheme instead of the additional State Pension - your pension provider should let you know what private pension you will receive".

Next best way is to phone Standard Life. They will be able to tell you whether you're currently contracted out into the pension you have with them. You can also ask them to tell you when they received the last contracted out rebate from HMRC as an extra check.

If those don't do the job you can phone the HMRC Contracted-out Pensions Helpline. They can tell you when you were contracted out, for how long and into which pensions as well as whether you're currently contracted out or not.

One thing you should do about contracting out or personal pensions in general is remember that it's your responsibility to pick and change investments as required. There are almost always many investment choices available to you and the ones you use can make a big difference to how much retirement income you get.

dunstonh

I am concerned as I have been reading bits about mis selling of SERPS and not sure if i have been involved in this unwittingly.

The FSA did a review of contracting out a few years back and found a failure rate of just 1.5%. The only ones talking about contracting out mis-sales are a few dodgy claims companies trying to use that excuse to find out about your pension so they can then sell you a commission based pension transfer earning them 5-7% commission of the fund value.

Basically, if you were under the age of 45 at the point of contracting out then you were within the optimal age for doing so.

wighead

dunstonh wrote: »

The FSA did a review of contracting out a few years back and found a failure rate of just 1.5%. The only ones talking about contracting out mis-sales are a few dodgy claims companies trying to use that excuse to find out about your pension so they can then sell you a commission based pension transfer earning them 5-7% commission of the fund value.

Basically, if you were under the age of 45 at the point of contracting out then you were within the optimal age for doing so.

I have been contacted by finex claims that told me I had been mis advised to contract out of serps and for an upfront fee of £395 they could secure me £7000. The gov regulated website was persuading and it has only been when I saw a similar posting on this website that I realised it was a scam. I paid the fee on my credit card, so is it possible to claim this back as this is fraud isn't it? Do I contact the police? Where do I start? I'd be really grateful for any advice!

dunstonh

wighead wrote: »

I have been contacted by finex claims that told me I had been mis advised to contract out of serps and for an upfront fee of £395 they could secure me £7000. The gov regulated website was persuading and it has only been when I saw a similar posting on this website that I realised it was a scam. I paid the fee on my credit card, so is it possible to claim this back as this is fraud isn't it? Do I contact the police? Where do I start? I'd be really grateful for any advice!

The police have gone into some companies where its clear that its advance fee fraud. However, its difficult to prove. That said, any claims company operating in the UK is regulated by the Ministry of justice. They can take action and help get refunds with complaints made where there have been rule breaches.

Telling you that they could secure £7000 is wrong. They should not give you amounts without knowing facts. They should also make you aware that the complaints process if you feel you were mis-sold is free of charge should you wish to do it yourself.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/inspection-and-monitoring/claims-management-regulation/information-for-consumers.htm

I would complain. The process is on the site above.

Here is the link to the FSA published guide on whether you were wrongly told to contract out. Flowchart is on page 4
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210151716/moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/s2p_wrongly_advised_ink.pdf

The flowchart it effectively what any complaints handler at the pensions company would look at.

Here is the FSA page on its review of contracting out that mentions that the failure rate was about 1.5%
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2007/059.shtml

You may want to use bits of that in your complaint. i.e. if you had been told by the claims company that the complaints process was free to use you wouldnt have used them and if you were told that only around 1.5% of people were wrongly advised then you wouldnt have used them as they told you that they could get back £7000.

wighead

Thankyou so much for your reply, and the useful links. I feel awful as I told my friend whose husband had contracted out and they were
scammed aswell. It seems Finex has gone to ground as the phone is unobtainable, the website has an empty home page and emails are
unanswered. I think is obvious in this case that it's fraud and will complain to the ministry, but wonder how anyone can refund us if the
fraudsters are not to be found!

jamesd

Since you paid by credit card your credit card company is jointly liable with the claims company for the fraud. You can seek repayment of the fee from your credit card company. So can those you told about this who also used a credit card to pay.

wighead

Thankyou, I thought maybe that I could claim from my credit card and will pursue it. My friends have tried to talk to their card lenders but the office in India made it impossible to sort out. Their bank says the card is nothing to do with them and is a seperate entity.

jamesd

Then they would find out who the card issuer is, the company name on the card is the issuer. If that's who they have been trying to talk to then a letter is the way to go.

TableTop

Hello,

I've recently obtained a state pension forecast, and it says something like 'You are not currently contracted out of SERPS/S2P' (sorry havnt got the wording in front of me).
My question is, will that pension forecast be taking account of the fact that I used to be contracted out, back in the 70's and 80's? Will the Govt 'know' this from my NI number, or do I have to tell them? (i.e. can I believe the forecast?).
Thanks for any info.