Serps

thaiphoon

Throughout the early '80's I moved jobs from one contracted out DB pension to another without getting the required five years in to gain a preserved pension. Were those Companies obliged to buy me back into the State Pension and including SERPS? I think I do not have any second pension(SERPS) to come.

SnowMan

That is what normally would have happened if you left a contracted-out defined benefit scheme before 6th April 1988 with less than 5 years service.

Your contributions (if any) would usually have been refunded net of an amount representing the saving in national insurance you would have had. And the employer would have had to pay back their saving in national insurance also to the contracting-out authorities. And your benefits in the DB scheme will have been extinguished.

As a result you would have been put back into SERPS for the period so should have some SERPS from then. Although it will depend on how that period interacts with later periods whether you would have any SERPS overall.

The company running the DB scheme weren't obliged to offer a refund only, they could offer an alternative to retain benefits within the final salary scheme. But there was no incentive to offer something extra to employees who had left their employment, so generally they didn't do this.

You need to get a state pension statement to see what state second pension (including SERPS) you have accrued.