Lost and confused

brendanm

My apologies if this has already been answered. i have searched and read so many pages here that my head is starting to spin and I getting more muddled.

I am a British expat school teacher living in Singapore and soon to move to another country within SE Asia. I worked for Westminster City Council as a teacher from August 1995 to July 2005 and paid into their pension fund.

My Questions: How can I find out the current value of my pension?
Can I transfer this to some other type of investment? If so, how?

I look forward to your replies.

Meadows

Have you contacted them to ask this? They are the best ones to provide the breakdown for you.

If you are employed by the Council and wish to join the scheme, or require more information about your membership, please see http://www.yourpension.org.uk/westminster/home.aspx or contact the London Pension Fund Authority, Dexter House, 2 Royal Mint Court London EC3N 4LP email [EMAIL="westminster@lpfa.org.uk"]westminster@lpfa.org.uk[/EMAIL].

http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/councils/counciltaxandfinance/pensions/

The Chief Operating Officer, City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1.

hyubh

brendanm wrote: »

I am a British expat school teacher living in Singapore and soon to move to another country within SE Asia. I worked for Westminster City Council as a teacher from August 1995 to July 2005 and paid into their pension fund.

You need to be clear what pension scheme this was first, Teachers or Local Government - the TPS is administered nationally, the LGPS locally. Fully qualified teachers for their main jobs go into the TPS, teaching assistants and other support staff the LGPS, but borderline cases might go in either. The LPFA (who administer quite a few LGPS funds) should be reasonably responsive if you contact them - in the first instance, drop them an email quoting your NI no. and asking them to confirm you have a DB ('deferred benefit') with them.

Had you been in the UK you would have received annual benefit statements (ABSs), assuming the administrator had been notified about any address changes. Not saying the old statements will be, but it's possible they will be accessible online via the link Meadows gave (see the 'Member Self Service' thing down the left), assuming the pension was with the LGPS not the TPS. It's also possible the administrator would send them abroad if necessary, at least going forward - you could ask them about that as well.

atush

you will as said above, find you have some sort of Defined Benefit pension accrued for around 10 years.

Even if you can transfer it to something else, I would not advise doing so. These sorts of Final Salary pensions are worth their weight in gold, and increase (ie your salary when you left is uprated by inflation) every year since you left. Keep it and draw on it when you actually retire.

In the mean time, do find out who ran your scheme and make sure they have your current contact details.

Have you been saving for retirement in your overseas positions?

xylophone

Were you in the TPS or the LGPS?
Either way you have a deferred final salary pension scheme.
http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/workplace-pension-schemes/final-salary-schemes/revaluation
https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/faqs/past-or-deferred-members-faqs.aspx

Presumably you were paying NI? You might want to check your state pension position.http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/state-pensions/living-overseas

Be aware that your deferred pension is a valuable benefit.

bigfreddiel

brendanm wrote: »

I am a British expat school teacher,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

i must admit i would have expected a teacher to know what to do - its very very simple - contact your former employer and ask.

you may even be able to find their email and phone number with google

good luck

fj

atush

Yes, I was an expat for a long time.

And all the teachers I knew then, were very much brain boxes (always wanted on the pub quiz team- accountants and scientists came in handy too).

Maybe the current cohort has suffered from degree dumbing down?

But we aren't being mean really- pensions can be hard to understand. But Google can be your firend for basics.

OP, do keep this pension and do not enter into anyting such as Qrops even if you legally can. It will be to your detriment.

nicknameless

Give him a break seriously. He asked a question not to have his IQ challenged.

atush

Qualified teachers are 'professionals' in the same way as say Chartered accountants, doctors and dentists.

So are held to perhaps a higher standard than the local council clerk or dust bin person.

They had extra education, and exams and have to maintain (well at least accountants and doctors do) a certain standard or they are/can be struck off.

So I can only assume this is where the small meager complaint is.

If you are that educated (and can use Google to get here) you might just be capable of googling some basics before you come here and ask others to do it for you?

We here answer many of the same Q's daily. But you might be sceptical of those who are a wee bit lazy.

hyubh

atush wrote: »

We here answer many of the same Q's daily. But you might be sceptical of those who are a wee bit lazy.

Others may feel sceptical of sanctimonious blowhards who feel the need to insult people at the drop of a hat, even if they are genuinely helpful in between times. YMMV of course.

brendanm

Thanks for the helpful replies. Will get on to this and start tracking down my pension fund. No worries about those questioning my intelligence or efforts. Some people just love to hear the sound of their own voices and feel the need to comment on any and everything, really useful.