Advice on SERPS/State Second Pension please.

vet8

I am due to receive my state pension for the first time in 3 days after all these years of paying NI. I have done my pension forecast for years and it always says I will receive some money from SERPS and the state second pension, the last forecast last year said I would get £35 odd per week.

Now I have finally got the pension statement, the entry for SERPS is NIL and second pension NIL, not a bloody penny! I do get 0.67p from graduated pension which I paid into from 1969 to 1974. I was opted out of SERPS for several years, but I did not opt out until 1989 so I paid into if from 1978 to 1989 and again from 2012 when you had to opt back in. I must surely have built up some Second Pension in those years.

I do not understand this. I know I will have to telephone DWP and ask, but I have already had to telephone the DWP as they had not sent me the statement and that was a nightmare; not only did I have to hang on for ages, but the man I eventually spoke to seemed to be holding the phone at arm's length and I could not tell if he was talking to me or mumbling to himself.

I know I will have to call them again, but any advice would be appreciated to give me a head start.

Thanks

xylophone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4532605

See post 21 above. Does your statement look like this?

Is the reason for NIL SERPS the size of your COD?

With regard to S2P https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/overview

vet8

xylophone wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4532605

See post 21 above. Does you statement look like this?

Is the reason for NIL SERPS the size of your COD?

With regard to S2P https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/overview

Thank you. My statement looks like that


What is COD? I have never heard of it.

vet8

Right I gather COD is Contracted out deduction.


No actually on my statement there are a lot of lines saying SERPS, State Second pension and different dates, but at the end of each line the amount to be paid is NIL. There are no deductions shown at all.

vet8

Thanks for that link to the gov.uk site, but I have read that before and really it is like the Ladybird book of Pensions, it is written as if we are all 10 years old. It does not explain in any detail why I get nothing when I seem to be eligible.

xylophone

You say that you were contracted out between 1989 and 2012 - was this into an occupational pension scheme? A personal pension scheme?

xylophone

http://adviser.royallondon.com/pensions/technical-central/information-guidance/general/state-second-pension-explained/

Does the above help at all?

Otherwise, you will have to contact DWP for an explanation.

vet8

xylophone wrote: »

You say that you were contracted out between 1989 and 2012 - was this into an occupational pension scheme? A personal pension scheme?

I was contracted out into a personal pension scheme.

vet8

xylophone wrote: »

http://adviser.royallondon.com/pensions/technical-central/information-guidance/general/state-second-pension-explained/

Does the above help at all?

Otherwise, you will have to contact DWP for an explanation.

I have looked at that thanks, it is very helpful. I still seem to be eligible for something not a lot probably, but I cannot see why every entry is NIL.

greenglide

If the AP and COD are both zero and you only have basic with a little bit of GRAD it sounds as if HMRC have lost or mislaid some of your NI records.

You need to ring the Pension Service and explain that there is no AP and can they explain why. In my experience they do offer a good service. Like all these things keeping calm is important though.

If they reckon it is due to being contracted out then ask for the periods and to which scheme (s). If you were contracted out, or they think you were, they must know this.

jamesd

vet8 wrote: »

I am due to receive my state pension for the first time in 3 days

As a person who reaches state pension age before 6 April 2016 your state pension will increase by 10.4% for each year for which you defer claiming it, calculated weekly for non-whole years of deferring. Unless your health is not typical this is one of the best financial moves that most people can make, with deferral for five years being a good move overall, if it's affordable. If you have savings or other pension money available to live on while deferring it's likely to be an excellent deal to defer for a while.

As well as poor health, those in receipt of means tested benefits are unlikely to be better of from deferring, though those on benefits can gain by deferring to build up a lump sum if they don't already have the maximum capital allowed under the various benefit rules.