Retrieving pension funds from short term employment

93darkknight

I worked for a large corporation for just over a year and in that time paid in around £600 to my pension fund (something that I was unaware was being done as I didn't choose to opt in to this).


I recall reading something online at some point which stipulated some of these plans would allow you to retrieve your money from them if you had worked for the employer for less than 2 years.


I emailed the pension scheme company and brought up this 2 year point however what I received back seemed like a copy and paste reply as my issue was not addressed.


Can someone please advise what the law is here and what can be done?


Any help greatly appreciated as the £600 certainly would come in useful right now!


Thank you

JoeCrystal

That generally applies in the case of the Defined Benefit Pension schemes. If it is Defined Contribution pension schemes, then no, you would not be able to. Which one is it?

93darkknight

I'm honestly not sure, the company was Virgin Media and the pension is with Fidelity International. I have recently received a statement booklet (the first and only paperwork I have received regarding this) and it states the investment fund is : Virgin Media Drawdown Lifestyle Strategy - if that helps shed any more light on things.


It seems silly that money I've earned isn't easily accessible to myself especially when I made no choice to opt in to such scheme.


There must be a way out of this surely?

Linton

From the information you give your pension is DC and so you cannot withdraw it until you are 55. As it is so small your best option is probably to transfer it into your current/next employers scheme.


Pensions are not short term savings schemes. They are intended for your retirement. The government has decided and parliament has agreed that people should by default be members of their employers scheme but can opt out if they wish. I, on behalf of your future self, hope you do not choose to opt out of your employers scheme in the future.

JoeCrystal

93darkknight wrote: »

I'm honestly not sure, the company was Virgin Media and the pension is with Fidelity International. I have recently received a statement booklet (the first and only paperwork I have received regarding this) and it states the investment fund is : Virgin Media Drawdown Lifestyle Strategy - if that helps shed any more light on things.

Then it is Defined Contribution pension scheme. You would not be able to access it until you reach 55. The employer also contributed to it as well. Looking at Virgin Media site, they had quite a generous employer's contribution! They match your input up to 10%.

93darkknight wrote: »

It seems silly that money I've earned isn't easily accessible to myself especially when I made no choice to opt in to such scheme.

Silly? The whole point paying into the pension scheme is to save up for your retirement. The employer has to auto-enrol you into the pension scheme by law, but you had the opportunity to opt out at any time. So don't complain about that you were not given a choice or not noticing that you were paying the pension contributions on the payslips.

Pension_Geek

93darkknight wrote: »

I'm honestly not sure, the company was Virgin Media and the pension is with Fidelity International. I have recently received a statement booklet (the first and only paperwork I have received regarding this) and it states the investment fund is : Virgin Media Drawdown Lifestyle Strategy - if that helps shed any more light on things.


It seems silly that money I've earned isn't easily accessible to myself especially when I made no choice to opt in to such scheme.


There must be a way out of this surely?

As far as I am aware, Fidelity don't do Defined Benefit plans. The fact its in a fund, strongly points to it being a DC scheme and therefore means it is ring-fenced until you reach retirement age (currently 55). Anyone that tells you anything different is trying to scam you.

Best thing to do is to forget about this until you are of retirement age, but you should certainly think of some kind of pension, especially if your employer pays into it.

AnotherJoe

93darkknight wrote: »

I'm honestly not sure, the company was Virgin Media and the pension is with Fidelity International. I have recently received a statement booklet (the first and only paperwork I have received regarding this) and it states the investment fund is : Virgin Media Drawdown Lifestyle Strategy - if that helps shed any more light on things.


It seems silly that money I've earned isn't easily accessible to myself especially when I made no choice to opt in to such scheme.


There must be a way out of this surely?

It is accessible, just not directly until you are 55, in the meantime you can transfer it to, for example, your current pension.

93darkknight

So nothing can be done? Despite the fact that this booklet is the first paperwork received? What's this 2 year rule that I've read about?


Is any of it up to the company's discretion?



I understand the intention behind a pension scheme, I'm not calling that in to question, what I do find frustrating though is that I was unaware of being autoenrolled in to such a scheme and now discovering there's money sitting there which I said before would be useful in my current situation.

JoeCrystal

93darkknight wrote: »

So nothing can be done? Despite the fact that this booklet is the first paperwork received? What's this 2 year rule that I've read about?


Is any of it up to the company's discretion?



I understand the intention behind a pension scheme, I'm not calling that in to question, what I do find frustrating though is that I was unaware of being autoenrolled in to such a scheme and now discovering there's money sitting there which I said before would be useful in my current situation.

There is nothing you can do, unfortunately. As already pointed out, the two years rules apply to some Defined Benefit schemes.

93darkknight

What about this?


(stick in the World Wide Web here) thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/codes-of-practice/code-4-early-leavers


9. When a member of an occupational pension scheme leaves pensionable service after three months and with less than two years' pensionable service and without vested rights to benefit under the scheme rules, they must be notified of their statutory rights to take a cash transfer sum or a contribution refund.[6]

JoeCrystal

93darkknight wrote: »

What about this?


(stick in the World Wide Web here) thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/codes-of-practice/code-4-early-leavers


9. When a member of an occupational pension scheme leaves pensionable service after three months and with less than two years' pensionable service and without vested rights to benefit under the scheme rules, they must be notified of their statutory rights to take a cash transfer sum or a contribution refund.[6]

In this context, the schemes referred to are Defined Benefit, nothing to do with Defined Contribution schemes. For example. if you work for the local council and joined the LGPS. But if you leave before two years then you could get a refund minus the taxes or transfer much larger cash sum to another pension scheme.