Pension charge

Waccoe

I was made bankrupt by the inland revenue back in April/May 2000 after my business failed owing the inland revenue approx £84k.

Since then I have paid them approx £35k back. However at the time I was made bankrupt the official receiver put a charge against my Pensions.

At the time of bankruptcy I had four pensions, one with the Pru, two with Scottish Widows and one other.

At the time of bankruptcy I'm unsure what the value of these pensions were, but in 2006 the trustees offered me the chance to buy them back for £3k however I could not afford this and declined. However the current value of these pensions is now between £30-£40k.

Between 85-90 I contracted out of SERPS and payed this into my prudential pension.

My question is can the inland revenue put a charge against pensions and can I challenge the charge against my pensions??

Annisele

There's a guide on .gov.uk called "What will happen to my pension".

Unfortunately for you, it sounds as though you were made bankrupt just the wrong side of a change in the law. After 29 May 2000, official receivers can't claim pensions - but before that they could. There's some more information in the leaflet I linked to.

You might still be able to buy them back, but it'll likely cost you quite a lot more than £3k.

Waccoe

Thanks for your help.

Having read the attached leaflet, I'm still unsure, were I stand.

In the leaflet it mentions about protected SERPS payments. In my main pension with the Prudential i contracted out of SERPS and payed them into this pension.

If I am reading the document correct it mentions that this is protected. Am I being hopeful or does this mean I can claim this pension back from the trustees?

"From the date of the bankruptcy order all rights and benefits (except rights arising where the policy was used to contract out of SERPS) vest in (transfer to) the bankruptcy estate. This means that your trustee in bankruptcy has the same rights under the policy as you did before becoming bankrupt. So the trustee in bankruptcy cannot claim the pension benefits until you reach the earliest retirement age allowed by the policy (for example, your 50th birthday)."

Again thanks for your help