4 years of working not included in pension

GreenleggedHeron

Hi all. I'm looking for advice.
I came to the UK in 1999, my husband having been recruited for a job. In 2001, he was headhunted for a job back in our native country, and in discussions about being retained here, he mentioned I desired to return because I missed being employed. The manager said, we can give her a job. I started a 12 hour per week job in 2001. I had no contract until 2005, no paid holidays, sick leave, or paid leave in the death of my mother. This wouldn't be unusual in my native country for a part-time job. In 2005 I was offered a contract, the paperwork stating I was just starting the job that year. I wrote to HR stating I'd been employed since 2001. They countered that they kept no records of temporary employees. I sent them copies of my pay stubs, and in a letter, they acknowledged that I'd been employed since 2001.
With the contract came an email address for the company, where I could access the employee benefit information. I have just received a pension letter. It says I joined the scheme in 2005. I had left the scheme when my former country offered ISAs if one wasn't in a pension scheme elsewhere. I’m offered a lump sum about £7000.

Thus, I have lost 4 years of pensionable working time, from 2001 until 2005.
Should I ask to have those 4 years included?
Can they make me retire at 65?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

jamesd

There is no longer a fixed retirement age. It would normally be prohibited age discrimination to fire you just because you reached a particular age.

It is common for defined benefit pension schemes to have a normal retirement age and 65 is quite common for that. Defined benefit schemes are often called final salary or average salary and the payment is normally expressed in terms of 1/80th of your average or final pay per year worked, pro-rated for part time working.

the normal pension in the private sector is a defined contribution scheme. In these a percentage of your pay is paid in and the company will often match that up to a cap of maybe 2-6%.

For a defined contribution scheme it would be reasonable to pay an amount that is estimated to be the value of the missed company contributions and an allowance for investment growth.

I suggest that you ask them to just explain to you how the amount of £7,000 was calculated, without saying more. The reason I suggest this is that they may have included the years 2006 through 2014 in their calculation. This way gives you the choice about when to tell them about that mistake, if they make it.

For many jobs a payment of £7,000 for 2001 to 2005 would be a reasonable amount, particularly for a part time worker. By reasonable I mean that it could well be exactly the correct amount to cover all missed company contributions.

atush

And I would put that money into a pension.

Do check your NI figures that you were credited with those years?

System

Hi

You may have lost those 4 years thru a fault of your employer, if so it may be possible for you to have a backdated joining date, and to pay the necessary contributions to have the 4 years credited.

Of course during the 4 you could have enquired about the company scheme, or started a private pension, there is an amount of responsibility on you also.

hyubh

johndough wrote: »

You may have lost those 4 years thru a fault of your employer, if so it may be possible for you to have a backdated joining date, and to pay the necessary contributions to have the 4 years credited.

I'd wager she was classed as a casual worker for the four years in question ('no paid holidays, sick leave, or paid leave in the death of my mother'... 'temporary workers'), and the scheme wasn't open to casuals (cf. LGPS eligibility criteria during that period). Just a guess though...

System

Hi

ED Zachary.

However...
https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics

Working pattern Pay Fixed hours and fixed pay (part time or full time) A week’s holiday pay equals how much a worker gets for a week’s work Shift work with fixed hours (part time or full time) A week’s holiday pay equals the average number of weekly fixed hours a worker worked in the previous 12 weeks at their average hourly rate No fixed hours (ie casual work) A week’s holiday pay is the average pay a worker got over the previous 12 weeks (in which they were paid)
Something tells me that (God Bless 'em) the EU and one of their directives covers such things.

Also if you turn up every day, without asking/being told that you are actually wanted, to me, somewhat dilutes the 'casual' nature.