claiming back minimal contribuitions to a company pension

johnnycondom

hi all
newby.and need a bit of advice
i started a new job march 2011 and at the age of 57 was invited to join the company pension scheme which i did.it now transpires that after 20 months contributions i am up for redundancy.the question is can i claim my subs back around £700 as the chances of finding another job at my age (nearly 60) and with a pension scheme to transfer it into is really remote.someone at work today said that over 55 you can. if i wait and leave it untill im 65 all i'll get for it is a paltry £10 per month
thanks people
john

McKneff

I think it depends on what kind of pension it is as to whether you can get your contributions back
under certain circs, you can do this within the first 2 years,

At 55 you can get 25% lump sum and turn the rest into an annuity, or leave it where it is till whenever to grow..

Even if you could get your contributions back it would be your 'pot' less tax, NI and the employers contributions.

Annisele

Depending on how much other pension provision you have, you may be better off leaving it where it is for a few years and taking it in one go as triviality.

There's a guy on another thread who's put £390 into his company pension scheme and it's now worth £1600 as a transfer to another scheme, or £330 if he has it in his pocket now. Depending on the scheme, those might be the sorts of variations you're looking at.

mania112

johnnycondom wrote: »

hi all
newby.and need a bit of advice
i started a new job march 2011 and at the age of 57 was invited to join the company pension scheme which i did.it now transpires that after 20 months contributions i am up for redundancy.the question is can i claim my subs back around £700 as the chances of finding another job at my age (nearly 60) and with a pension scheme to transfer it into is really remote.someone at work today said that over 55 you can. if i wait and leave it untill im 65 all i'll get for it is a paltry £10 per month
thanks people
john

If that's your only pension in the world, rather than taking back your contributions (which you'll likely be able to do), you'd be better off going down the 'triviality' route.

Triviality allows you to take ALL your pension (subject to tax) if ALL your pensions total less than £18,000.

That way, if your company have contributed you'll be able to have that too. A standard return of contributions would only be for the money you paid in, not your employer.

johnnycondom

i do have a frozen r/royce pension that i contributed in untill 1992 and at last look had a pot of 101k .i dont know if i can transfer the little one into it though. so by some of your posts i cannot go for the triviality route can i? with that kind of pot

somethingcorporate

No, too big for triviality.

£10 a month for £700 investment sounds pretty good to me. You'll be quids in after 6 years (6*120 = £740)!

Far better than £700 in a bank account (and once you take tax off that will be worth about £400).

kidmugsy

johnnycondom wrote: »

i do have a frozen r/royce pension that i contributed in untill 1992 and at last look had a pot of 101k .i dont know if i can transfer the little one into it though. so by some of your posts i cannot go for the triviality route can i? with that kind of pot

Hold on, there's now a second kind of triviality referred to as "stranded pots". You are allowed to cash in up to two pots holding £2000 or less (each). 25% is tax-free and the rest exposed to income tax. Minimum age is 60.

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/news/2012/april/new-rule-for-cashing-in-small-pension-pots

jamesd

As kidmugsy wrote, if you can leave the money in the current place until you're 60 you can take it all out as a lump sum, a quarter tax free, the rest added to your normal income. If you don't have another pension to transfer it into that's probably your best option.

johnnycondom

thanks guys,just read the link but just one more question,this £2000 stranded pot upper limit which can be claimed back at 60,does that include my employers subs as well or just my own.if it includes his well im out of luck as its gonna be double that amount
anyway i'll find out my fate tomorrow one way or another :eek:

kidmugsy

It applies to the whole pot, whoever paid it in. How about finding providers (e.g. SIPP providers) so that you can end up with transferring half the pot to each of two providers. Bingo!

Does anyone know whether this can be done: is it possible to transfer part of a pension pot?

P. S. Have you checked the RR scheme? Was it a final salary scheme or a defined contribution scheme?

johnnycondom

hiya kidsmugsy
i think at the time the R/R was a final salary scheme but as ive not subbed in for 20 years its all irrevellent.just been looking at an annuity for a pot of 105k if i can put the stranded one in with it i can get 26k lump sum and 200 quid a month linked to rpi for ten years at 60 dunno what happens at 70 though