Strange phone call ref state pension can any one help/ advise?

ajp1309

Just wondered if anyone had heard of this or could advise. My dad recently recieved a phone call saying that anyone that had contracted out of the state pension scheme may be aligable to claim up to £1500 a year back for all the years they were out of the scheme.
Just wondered if anyone had heard anything about this or is it a scam?
any advice would be appreciated

jamesd

It's a scam. What he'd find is that they charge a fee of perhaps 750 regardless of whether the claim succeeds or whether it gets 1 pound back. Good for them to do as many claims as possible so they get the 750 if they get lucky. It's also work he can do for nothing himself, so there's no reason to pay anyone. One other little detail: the money would go into a pension and he'd have to pay the 750 out of current income.

The key thing though, is was contracting out right for him? It typically was a good idea in the Thatcher years and has only started to become less good in the last ten years or so. Today about 1/3 of people are better off contracted out. If he doesn't trust the government not to change pension entitlements, wants the 25% tax-free lump sum, wants to take the pension early or invested with medium or higher risk he's probably correctly contracted out.

dunstonh

Let us guess. The company was Morgan Green.

As James said, they are after your Dads money.

ajp1309

Many thanks for the info. My dad had to take early retirement due to ill health so was thinking of going for this but it sounded strange.
So many thanks for that ill tell him to stay well clear

dunstonh

As your dad took early retirement, contracting out was probably beneficial as contracted out benefits can be taken early. Contracted in benefits have to wait until state retirement age. Also as soon as your dad stopped working, contracting out would have stopped as well.

So, it would probably have been £750 wasted.