Guaranteed minimum pension

DairyQueen

On 18th April this year the government published guidance on how to equalise GMP benefits. It seems that pension schemes are being given latitude with the timing. Also, schemes are able to choose the order in which they convert specific cohorts (e.g. pensioner/deferred/active members).

No deadlines have been given as far as I can tell.

I suggest you contact your scheme and ask for an update..

LXdaddy

The GMP equalisation will take MANY months to resolve. I would not expect much (visible) movement within the next 12 months.

The options on how to calculate the correct amounts have fairly recently been published but many schemes have yet to resolve which method to use. The calculations depend on data for each of the years each individual was contracted out. In many cases individuals will have moved from one pension scheme to another during the contracted out period, further complicating data trail.

I believe there is an HMRC wrinkle that if a trivial commutation is done ahead of the equalisation result and then a further payment is paid once the equalisation is calculated, then the second payment may be classified as unauthorised.

The object of the equalisation exercise is to equalise (up) the benefit for men and women. In general women have had a higher benefit than a man with the same employment history. For each person, for each year they have to calculate the benefit if the person was male and the benefit if they were female and then give them the higher amount. The calculation will produce different results for each individual. SO you can see some of the complexity.

Working out HOW to do the calculation is one step then gathering the required data is another, then the calculation can be done.

Another (non-trivial) aspect is GMP reconciliation - this is a quite separate exercise, predating the equalisation, and should be drawing to a conclusion around now. This is a reconciliation between the data held by the pension scheme and the data held by DWP on the GMP entitlement for each person. Another case of data cleansing and correcting to get the information in agreement between the different holders of data.


The reconciliation needs to be completed before the equalisation can start. Many schemes will want to complete both before communicating results to members.

Jayjay08

Is the current situation still the same?
No resolution yet?

2bims

With my uncle...yes...it is.....we went to DRP 2 stage procedure with Ernst and Young trustees...and they skipped straight to stage 2 and refused to pay out the Lump Sum...saying the offer is now "CLOSED"...despite my uncle having accepted their offer....it has gone on for 6 months....REASON??...They gave none...BUT...their pension scheme is £500million SHORT of meeting their liabilities in their last Company accounts....Yet they still managed to give £125,000 to the Tory Party electoral campaign.....We have referred them to the Pnsions Ombudsman and Regulator as they are breaking the law of the Pensions Act 1995

[Deleted User]

The E&Y pension scheme is for a defunct company and its accounts are "dormant"...there are only retired ex employees....yet over 2500 directors and trustees of the company all drawing from the gravy boat at the expense of the people that paid in....

1. Are you sure it’s an “E&Y pension scheme” rather than E&Y offering advisory services to trustees?

2. When you talk about 2500 directors, are you talking about E&Y partners who have nothing to do with this particular scheme? Where does the number come from?

3. If it were E&Y pension scheme then you have nothing to worry about. A highly profitable and very much a solvent business.

4. They have a complete right to use their money in the way they see fit as long as the laws on donations are followed. I am amazed they donated so little,

hyubh

2bims wrote: »

Trustees are by name and LAW...supposed to be impartial and work WHOLLY for the interests of the Beneficiaries according to the Trustees Act....Paying pensioners monies to a political party hardly seems to be part of a Trustees Role

Notwithstanding supporters of the blue team on here suggesting such a thing would be perfectly appropriate, no pension fund monies would form part of a donation to a political party, partly for reasons you have given.

Jayjay08

Are there any further developments on this? 

Jayjay08

Just a wee update for anyone who’s interested, now 3 years down the line and I’m still no further forward.
since the GMP decision has been made Iv received a couple of responses to emails Iv sent, most of which say the same. “We’re looking at it” they have told me it will be 2022 at least before they do something. 

Is it worth my while taking legal advice on this in an attempt to push it forward or am I wasting my time? 

dunstonh

Is it worth my while taking legal advice on this in an attempt to push it forward or am I wasting my time? 

You have that option open to you.  However, it is a specialist area and I doubt it would be cheap.   You would also not be able to recover legal costs from LV unless you went the whole hog through the courts and got costs awarded.

MEM62

Jayjay08 said:

Is it worth my while taking legal advice on this in an attempt to push it forward or am I wasting my time? 

Litigation is both risky and expensive.  Can you afford to loose? 

Have you tried other means of bringing pressure to bear, such as a formal complaint of speaking with your MP.  If they are following the rules you options may be limited.