You were contracted out....

dont_use_vistaprint

When I check my pension forecast online it says :

In the past you’ve been ‘contracted out’ of the additional State Pension.

When you were contracted out:

you and your employers paid lower rate National Insurance contributions, or some of your National Insurance contributions were paid into another pension scheme, such as a personal or stakeholder pension The amount of additional State Pension you would have been paid if you had not been contracted out is known as the Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE).

Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE)
Your COPE estimate is £18.10 a week.

This will not affect your State Pension forecast. The COPE amount is paid as part of your other pension schemes, not by the government.

I have a feeling this is from around 1988/90 when I was employed in the UK, could that be right or it likely to be due to a LGPS pension or a private pension in the last few years ? LGPS was paid in on and off for around 4-5 years in total between 2003 and 2015 and a private one every month for the last three years.

If its from 88/89 how would I track this pension down ? I had moved to another country and the company that would have paid it in went bust.

sevenhills

Good luck, I opted out and ended up with a private pension pot worth around £40k


https://www.gov.uk/contracted-out/check-if-you-were-contracted-out

greenglide

I have a feeling this is from around 1988/90 when I was employed in the UK, could that be right or it likely to be due to a LGPS pension

If you were ever in the LGPS and deferred the pension when you left this would have caused it - the LGPS was always contracted out until contracting out ended.

Mnd

You need to track this down, start with the government pension service.
My wife did this, never understood it or was even aware of it.
She had £50k saved that she never knew about!
Good luck..please let us know how you get on

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

For which local authority did you work?

mum_of_joey

I hope that you find this pension and that it's a nice bonus for you. But just a word of warning if you have received any state benefits (depending on your age). I was in a similar position (ie had no idea that I had this pension 'lurking' in the background until this year 89- I had no idea what contracting out meant in 1989 except that I paid less out and would therefore get less state pension), and because I had received pension credit for four years, the DWP are now calculating 'notional income' that I WOULD have got on that money had I taken out an annuity for the past four years, which would be backdated four years (even though I was totally unaware of this pension pot). It is still ongoing, after many months, and has caused me many sleepless nights and ill-health, waiting to see how much money I will have to repay to them.

It is rather like finding out that a piece of jewellery or something which had been bequeathed to me 30 years ago, and which I thought was a bit of cheap 'costume jewellery', was actually worth thirty thousand pounds, and having to pay my benefits back!

So, I do hope that you trace your pension and also that you haven't needed benefits at all.

Silvertabby

If your £18.10 per week COPE does relate to your LGPS service, then that pension will be worth way more than £18.10 per week if taken without any sizeable reductions for early payment (65 in your case, as you left before 2016).

dont_use_vistaprint

It lists PS Administration Ltd and Tata Consultancy Ltd, I have to write to them now...The bit in the LGPS is fine, I have all the contact info and last years statement, it's worth about £5,500 annually or more without a lump sum.

I'm hoping this is the older one, pretty sure I paid into a pension with them. Is it only very recently that employers legally have to have a pension? I did work for various other companies between 1986 & 1988, I woudl have no idea if I was in a pension though - Would my NI record from the 1980's indicate if I paid into a private pension.

mgdavid

dont_use_vistaprint wrote: »

......... I did work for various other companies between 1986 & 1988, I woudl have no idea if I was in a pension though - Would my NI record from the 1980's indicate if I paid into a private pension.

<dumbfounded>
did you really work and receive payslips for 2 or 3 years and *never* even look at them to wonder what the deductions were?


Yes the NI records will show if you paid the Contracted Out lower rate.

bownyboy

Same thing happened to me. I didn't realise I had contracted out back in 1991, and traced and old private pension that I never paid into and found I had £40k!

gardner1

Mnd wrote: »

You need to track this down, start with the government pension service.
My wife did this, never understood it or was even aware of it.
She had £50k saved that she never knew about!
Good luck..please let us know how you get on

bownyboy wrote: »

Same thing happened to me. I didn't realise I had contracted out back in 1991, and traced and old private pension that I never paid into and found I had £40k!

I'm sorry but how do you not realize you've contracted out and have £50 & £40k do people not check