Redundant and pensions

SHAGGY84

Hi i am after a little guidance i have recently been made redundant and i have 2 pensions 1 which was a company pension with standard life i got made redundant from that in 1996 this i carried on paying as a private pension at around £50 a month i started this company pension in 1987.

My current job also had a company pension which is a final salary pension and i have been paying into this around £185 a month for around 4 years my problem is what to do now that i have been made redundant again, freeze it or transfer it and carry on paying the standard life one.

Also i am not earning now or claming any benifits what happens to my national insurance contributions how do they get paid.

One more thing i may be emigrating to australia in september or october so this may have some bearing on the decsions.

Any guidence will be much apprciated thank you.

OH yes im 44 years old and always been working since i was 16

seven-day-weekend

You will not be paying or being credited with any NI if you are neither working nor claiming benefits.

You can pay voluntary contributions, these count towards your State pension.

Or if you are looking for another job you can sign on for Jobseekers' Allowance and will get the NI credited.

You can continue to pay voluntary contributions in an EU country, but I don't know if this is applicable to Australia.

Can't give any advice regarding pensions, but there are plenty on here who can.

seven-day-weekend

You will not be paying or being credited with any NI if you are neither working nor claiming benefits.

You can pay voluntary contributions, these count towards your State pension.

Or if you are looking for another job you can sign on for Jobseekers' Allowance and will get the NI credited.

You can continue to pay voluntary contributions in an EU country, but I don't know if this is applicable to Australia.

Can't give any advice regarding pensions, but there are plenty on here who can.

EdInvestor

SHAGGY84 wrote:

Hi i am after a little guidance i have recently been made redundant and i have 2 pensions 1 which was a company pension with standard life i got made redundant from that in 1996 this i carried on paying as a private pension at around £50 a month i started this company pension in 1987.

First ring up or write to Standard Life and ask for a "transfer value" of the pension.This will tell us what it's worth now. Is it invested in the "with profits fund" by the way?

My current job also had a company pension which is a final salary pension and i have been paying into this around £185 a month for around 4 years my problem is what to do now that i have been made redundant again, freeze it or transfer it and carry on paying the standard life one.

Almost certainly it will be best to leave this pension where it is.It will be uprated by inflation until you retire so will keep its value.

Also i am not earning now or claming any benifits what happens to my national insurance contributions how do they get paid.

You need to pay voluntary NI contributions. Also it would be a good idea to get a forecast of your likely state pensions when you retire.Do that here:

https://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

One more thing i may be emigrating to australia in september or october so this may have some bearing on the decsions.

You can keep paying voluntay contributions into your state pension from Australia and they are very cheap if you are worlking overseas( just over 2 quid a week).Only downside is that the pension doesn't get uprated for inflation in Australia every year after you retire.

It wouldn't be sensible to continue contributions to the SL pension if you emigrate, as you would get no tax relief, but it would be wise to monitor the progress of the investment, and you can now do that online.

SHAGGY84

Thanks Edinvestor for the taking the time to answer my questions.
i have contacted Standard Life and they say i have 2 pensions with them and the following are the transfer values

Pension 1 With profits fund transfer value £15295.83
Pension 2 With profits fund transfer value £21406.68

And the 3rd one havnt sent me the transfer figures yet but i have paid £185 a month into this since 2002

Standard Life also told me that if i emigrate to australia i can keep paying inti the standard life pension till March 2013.

I still a little lost to what to do because these figures dont mean that much to me HELP

Cheers for any help :A :A