Absolutely clueless - Lost ££££s

theladycarolineno

I'm a total nightmare when it comes to money. I've been trying to get better at managing my finances and it occurred to me recently that I must have paid thousands into an old pension when I worked at a uni from 2004 to 2007. The thing is I've no idea what it was called - I doubt I have any paperwork and I really don't know where to start looking! I'm in a different pension scheme now and would really like to consolidate it or at least get that money back! Any ideas where to start?

Appreciate any advice.

mania112

https://www.gov.uk/find-lost-pension

LHW99

Maybe try
http://www.uss.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx

atush

You dont want the money back (even if you could get it) as you would lose a lot of it.

And you dont want to consolidate it. It is a FS/DB scheme, so one of the best types going. So find out how much it will pay you at what age, and use it as the bedrock (along with your state pension) for your future pension planning.

hyubh

theladycarolineno wrote: »

I must have paid thousands into an old pension when I worked at a uni from 2004 to 2007. The thing is I've no idea what it was called - I doubt I have any paperwork and I really don't know where to start looking! I'm in a different pension scheme now and would really like to consolidate it or at least get that money back! Any ideas where to start?

Will likely be either the USS or a university's own scheme that more or less mirrors the USS (e.g., SAUL), although if it was a 'new' university then it might be the LGPS (similar again, or at least, was a decade ago - 1/80 final salary pension, 3/80 lump sum).

Start by contacting the university's payroll department to confirm the scheme, then contact the pension administrators (will likely be in-house) to update them with your current address, and to ask them to forward you any benefit statements you've missed - there should at least be a statement as-at date of leaving, and if it's LGPS there will be an annual statement for each year thereafter too.

Other than that, you don't really want to do anything with the pension itself for the reasons others have outlined.

woolly_wombat

hyubh wrote: »

Start by contacting the university's payroll department to confirm the scheme, then contact the pension administrators (will likely be in-house) to update them with your current address, and to ask them to forward you any benefit statements you've missed - there should at least be a statement as-at date of leaving, and if it's LGPS there will be an annual statement for each year thereafter too.

Other than that, you don't really want to do anything with the pension itself for the reasons others have outlined.

As hyubh has pointed out, if it's LGPS then they should send an annual statement each year, but most schemes don't.

If yours doesn't then from now on make a mental note to write off every year to ask for one. It's something I always do in the new year.