Missing contributions, any advice appreciated!

copeland29

Hi, it may be a long read but any advice will be appreciated!

My DH recently found out that approx 5yrs of his contributions to his TPS (Teachers' Pension Scheme) are missing.
He had opted out of the TPS in Aug 02, but began paying again when he changed schools in May 04. He "thinks" he opted back in, but cannot remember definitely doing so. He was definitely aware at the time that he was now paying pension contributions again and so may have assumed his new school had automatically re-enrolled him. We have all his payslips & P60's showing the contributions.

We have contacted the TPS, who said to contact the relevant schools (he changed schools in 2008 & so one years' worth of the missing payments us from a different school) & we have done so. Both schools are now investigating. My questions are....


If it turns out he didn't opt back in, then should we just look to get back his contributions (approx £10,500)? Or is there an argument that by deducting the contributions his employer had effectively re-enrolled him and therefore he should be entitled to their contribution too?

If he had opted back in, should we expect the TPS to restore his pension to what it should be if these missing payments, & employer contributions, had been added at the correct time?

Many thanks for any advice
Cope

jem16

copeland29 wrote: »

If it turns out he didn't opt back in, then should we just look to get back his contributions (approx £10,500)? Or is there an argument that by deducting the contributions his employer had effectively re-enrolled him and therefore he should be entitled to their contribution too?

If pension deductions were being made you would have expected to be in the scheme. I would be pushing for that rather than accepting a refund as it will be worth far less.

If he had opted back in, should we expect the TPS to restore his pension to what it should be if these missing payments, & employer contributions, had been added at the correct time?

He should be credited with the appropriate years of service. That's all that's required.

copeland29

jem16 wrote: »

If pension deductions were being made you would have expected to be in the scheme. I would be pushing for that rather than accepting a refund as it will be worth far less.

I do agree with you, my DH however is beating himself up a bit & thinks if he didn't opt back in he should be grateful to get back his contributions. I think we should be pushing for the employer contributions regardless as by deducting his contributions it was a reasonable expectation that he was in the scheme! I'm searching all paperwork atm to try and find his contract/paperwork where hopefully he signed to enrol when he signed his contract.

He should be credited with the appropriate years of service. That's all that's required.

Thank you, and hopefully if he did definitely re-enrol it will be straightforward, he is concerned though that the TPS has changed since then - we are both hazy on details - and they may be unable to put these payments and employer contributions in.

copeland29

Sorry, I think I messed up quoting and put my reply in with the quote!

jem16

copeland29 wrote: »

Thank you, and hopefully if he did definitely re-enrol it will be straightforward, he is concerned though that the TPS has changed since then - we are both hazy on details - and they may be unable to put these payments and employer contributions in.

From memory, but I may be wrong, the TPS was an opt out rather than an opt in for full time staff.

The TPS has not changed in any way that will cause a problem. Even with the changes from Final Salary to Career Average from April this year will not make a difference.

As it is a Defined Benefit scheme there is no pot of money and therefore nothing to add either the employer's or employee's contributions to. All that will happen is that the length of service will be altered to correctly show the number of years. So if he was full time for those 5 years, he would have 5 years added to his pensionable service.


A Defined Benefit pension is one of the easiest to sort. If you can prove payments to the pension scheme via his payslips, there should be no issue at all.

Why did your husband not pick this up earlier as he should have been getting an annual statement of benefits?

copeland29

jem16 wrote: »

From memory, but I may be wrong, the TPS was an opt out rather than an opt in for full time staff.


A Defined Benefit pension is one of the easiest to sort. If you can prove payments to the pension scheme via his payslips, there should be no issue at all.

Why did your husband not pick this up earlier as he should have been getting an annual statement of benefits?

Thanks for this, that is very reassuring, it will be great if they do just restore his years of service to the correct number.

TBH he didn't pick it up because he is frankly terrible at opening letters/checking up on anything like this. I look after most things & we are both happy with that - but obviously I hadn't realised he wasn't checking his annual statement.

His sister died suddenly a few months ago, hence why he wanted to just check everything & I'm so glad he did. This is why he is beating himself up a bit, but hopefully it should be straightforward for the TPS to sort out - he was full time & we have all his payslips thank goodness!

CAE

Were the schools your husband worked in Local Authority Schools or private schools? If Local Authority you should check with the relevant council payroll dept, who should be able to confirm whether he was in the pension scheme or not. His details would have been included on the annual return they are required to send to TPS.

copeland29

Thanks, the schools were LA, and both have been in touch now to say they are contacting Birmingham City payroll so hopefully we will have some progress soon!

copeland29

Just in case anyone who responded is curious, we have had confirmation that the TPS have agreed to include the payments made that had not previously been credited, into his years of service. Very relieved! We could not prove that he opted back in, but they are honouring the fact he paid the pension anyway.

atush

jem16 wrote: »

If pension deductions were being made you would have expected to be in the scheme. I would be pushing for that rather than accepting a refund as it will be worth far less.



He should be credited with the appropriate years of service. That's all that's required.

I agree. If the contributions were deducted, look to being credited with the years in the TPS. NOT a refund of contributions.

atush

copeland29 wrote: »

Just in case anyone who responded is curious, we have had confirmation that the TPS have agreed to include the payments made that had not previously been credited, into his years of service. Very relieved! We could not prove that he opted back in, but they are honouring the fact he paid the pension anyway.

Excellent news!