SERPS advice please ?

katherinelc

about 30 ish !! years ago my Hubby started a private pension with Britannic he was also persuaded to opt out of SERPS. after a couple of years due to our financial situation we couldn't afford to pay into the pension any more so it what was paid in is still there frozen we get regular statements for this. Since then this has been taken over by Phoenix life. I remember he received a letter about opting back into SERPS and i'm fairly certain he did, but does anyone know what would have happened to the contributions that were taken during this time ? were they sent on to the relevant government department ? will this affect his state pension ? is he entitled to put in a claim for this ? if anyone has any of these answers I would be very grateful, thanks

xylophone

Has your husband applied for a state pension statement?

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

dunstonh

I remember he received a letter about opting back into SERPS and i'm fairly certain he did

Everyone was contracted back in during 2012. Most were contracted back in before then though. A lot of the tied providers did it in the early 2000s.

But does anyone know what would have happened to the contributions that were taken during this time ?

Probably still with the pension provider in his pension plan.

were they sent on to the relevant government department ?

No. They would have been sent to the pension provider.

will this affect his state pension ?

Yes. His additional state pension will be reduced based on the number of years he has contracted out vs contracted in.

is he entitled to put in a claim for this ?

What do you mean by claim?

katherinelc

Hi thanks for your answers, he hasn't applied for a state pension statement so I will get him to do that. By claim I mean for misselling, I haven't looked into it properly just what I've heard on tv or read in the paper.

dunstonh

By claim I mean for misselling, I haven't looked into it properly just what I've heard on tv or read in the paper.

Why do you think it was mis-sold?

The FSA did a review of contracting out a number of years ago and found a failure rate of around 1.5%. Very low. Most claims companies wont go near it given the tiny success rate on complaints and a couple that do put in fake complaints with a view to finding out the pension information to allow them to sell you a new pension and earn

You cant have heard it on TV as there has been nothing on TV about it and nothing in the press apart from perhaps a couple of adverts from less than reputable claims companies.