Multiple little pensions and no idea what they mean

Nicolette61

I have worked for several local authorities and for a charity and a wholesaler, all of which I have paid towards a pension. On top of that I believe I paid into a local government pension before 2007 but there doesn’t appear to be any records.
I’m now in my late 50’s and have no idea if the income from these will be enough. Can anyone please help me to figure this all out?

AlanP_2

Starting point would be contacting each employer for details on what pension you have with them and who to contact for an up to date statement.

Do you have any paperwork relating to these?

For the Local Authority ones the local LGPS administration team should be able to help and provide statements. Typically this is the county council who run the scheme on behalf of all the LGPS employers in that area.

How long did you work for each one as with some pension schemes you need to work for the employer for a minimum number of years before qualifying for a pension. If you don't work there long enough you may have been given a refund.

HMRC / National Insurance helpline should be able to identify who was collecting your NI if you can't recall all the employers.

Also, check your State Pension situation to see what that would pay you and how much / how long you need to contribute to maximise that.

hyubh

Nicolette61 wrote: »

I have worked for several local authorities and for a charity and a wholesaler, all of which I have paid towards a pension. On top of that I believe I paid into a local government pension before 2007 but there doesn’t appear to be any records.
I’m now in my late 50’s and have no idea if the income from these will be enough. Can anyone please help me to figure this all out?

The local authority ones will be easiest - put the name of the authority + LGPS into Google, find the pension administrator's contact details, and get in touch: give them a call to confirm you have a pension record, get the address they hold updated, ask if they have a member self-service web portal (most do nowadays) and if so how to register, and request a copy of your latest annual benefit statement(s) be sent to your current address.

By the way - if you've been in the LGPS multiple times, then if the periods haven't all been post-March 2014 and you didn't explicitly choose to combine, you will have multiple small pensions rather one big one. Also, while the ABS(s) will probably not have a projection of your pension at normal pension age, that's no big deal, because the figures at that point will just be the current ones increased with inflation.

For your other occupational pensions you can try a similar method, or use the Pension Tracing Service (https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details) if nothing comes up. That said, if the non-LGPS ones are still DB, it might however not be so easy to get their current value (LGPS funds have to produce ABSs for deferred members, other schemes not). Also, the composition of the pension might be more complicated. Alternatively, they might well be DC, in which case they won't define an income at a later point, but a small investment fund to do pretty much as you choose later on.

xylophone

Get a state pension statement here

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

Is a COPE shown?

Nicolette61

Thank you so much. This whole thing is so complicated but obviously very important. I have already put some of this information to use and am making some headway albeit slowly.