Is my wife the nuclear option???

Silvertabby

My inclination is just to keep quiet unless someone can tell me that they can't change my wife's pension in the case they have made a mistake with hers.

If they do find that they have made a mistake with your wife's pension, they will immediately reduce it the the correct amount. They may then ask for the over-issue to be repaid.

MyOnlyPost

DawlishDilbert wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but let me put it another way: We have identical employment histories and salaries. However her pension is now worth £2k more than mine. I do indeed want to understand why - but the simple act of asking for more info, of asking why, will draw to the pension departments notice that there's a difference and they COULD say 'hers is wrong - reduce it to match his'.

The actual calculations etc are not relevant to my question here - I'm just asking if I even dare mention it. At best, mine is wrong, hers is right and we are £2k better off. At worst, hers is wrong and mine is right and we are £2k better off. If I do nothing - no change from what we have now.

My inclination is just to keep quiet unless someone can tell me that they can't change my wife's pension in the case they have made a mistake with hers.

I think the point others are making is you don't have to ask about her pension to work out for yourself which is correct. Once you know which is correct, you then know whether to ask

p00hsticks

DawlishDilbert wrote: »

At best, mine is wrong, hers is right and we are £2k better off. At worst, hers is wrong and mine is right and we are £2k better off.

Don't you mean that at worst you are £2k WORSE off ?

Kynthia

We can help you possibly discover the reason for the difference, and who's is correct if one isn't, but that's up to you. I prefer to understand things like this as it helps when fighting to get something changed for the better.

One difference between you is when you are being made redundant. When looking for your best pay figure the scheme compares all of your pensionable earnings over a period of time and when indexed up to today's value it picks the best one to use. You're window will be impacted by different pension indexation to your wife's due to the index being lower the past few years compared to earlier years. Or there could have been an allowance you both stopped receiving at the sane time that was within your wife's best pensionable pay window but is now too long ago for you. However without facts I only have guesses as to the reason.

mgdavid

You say your employment histories are 'identical' (your word).
Yet how can they be when she took redundancy 'some years ago' and you are still working?
On the basis of probability they are right and you are simply not understanding how the pensions are calculated in different circumstances. Your apparent unwillingness to understand the minutae of CS Pension regulations and so to work out for yourself what your respective pensions should be, frankly I find baffling. There are people on here who will invest time and effort to help you do this, you just need to provide the base information and details. That's what this forum is all about!

AnotherJoe

DawlishDilbert wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but let me put it another way: We have identical employment histories and salaries.

Obviously, you dont !! She hasn't been working there for years whilst you have. How is that identical?

However her pension is now worth £2k more than mine. I do indeed want to understand why - but the simple act of asking for more info, of asking why, will draw to the pension departments notice that there's a difference and they COULD say 'hers is wrong - reduce it to match his'.

Ask how yours was calculated.

The actual calculations etc are not relevant to my question here

They are the ONLY relevant thing !
- I'm just asking if I even dare mention it. At best, mine is wrong, hers is right and we are £2k better off. At worst, hers is wrong and mine is right and we are £2k better off. If I do nothing - no change from what we have now.
.At worst they will take away her £2k, backdated even if you do nothing. Audits tend to discover these things after a while.

My inclination is just to keep quiet unless someone can tell me that they can't change my wife's pension in the case they have made a mistake with hers.

Focus first on if they made a mistake with yours.

Silvertabby

Focus first on if they made a mistake with yours.

There's no computer link between your pension and your wife's. If you ring to query your quote/service the person you speak to will have no idea that your wife also has a pension unless you tell them.

Hint - when you ring, have your NI number to hand instead of doing what a lot of people ringing the Local Government pension scheme do -- " Oh - you want my NI number ? I just knew you'd ask for that - but I haven't got it ... titter titter... can I give you something else"? Very annoying. If the 'something else' is your name and initial - and if your wife's initial just happens to be the same as yours - then that search will bring up both of your records.