Proving salary from 25 years ago

Terron

I am applying for one of my pensions - the FS one. The pensionable salary they gave seemed a bit low to me and I queried it. The difference was partly in the method of calculation, but also they have my final salary (from 1994) as £25,000 but I am sure it was £26,000.
Before I start hunting though boxes to see if I have kept anything proving that, is there any easy way to do it?

AnotherJoe

I wonder how far back tax records go ?

Shimrod

Terron wrote: »

I am applying for one of my pensions - the FS one. The pensionable salary they gave seemed a bit low to me and I queried it. The difference was partly in the method of calculation, but also they have my final salary (from 1994) as £25,000 but I am sure it was £26,000.
Before I start hunting though boxes to see if I have kept anything proving that, is there any easy way to do it?

Could it be the definition of final salary? My scheme has the final salary as at April 1st. So a pay rise in May of that year would not reflect as the final salary for calculation until the following April.

davidwatts

Shimrod wrote: »

Could it be the definition of final salary?

That will be absolutely key to any query. I'm aware of a scheme where it was the average for the final 52 weeks worked. It could be more elaborate than that for some old schemes!

Terron

davidwatts wrote: »

That will be absolutely key to any query. I'm aware of a scheme where it was the average for the final 52 weeks worked. It could be more elaborate than that for some old schemes!

It is the highest amount earned in a year minus the state pension. I had a big pay rise in my last year - after getting promoted during a pay freeze. So it is definitely the last 12 months that count.

So part of the difference is that the actual final salary wasn't for a full year - and I understand that now.



My job was then sold to a competitor. They offered me less but I insisted on getting the same and got it.

Dox

Terron wrote: »

Before I start hunting though boxes to see if I have kept anything proving that, is there any easy way to do it?

Sadly not - and the onus will be on you to prove it is wrong. You will have received a leaving service benefit statement which will invariably have included words to the effect 'let us know if anything is wrong'. The pension scheme administrators will (correctly) rely on this, unless you can show otherwise.

It may be galling to believe/be certain the amount is wrong, but before getting too steamed up about anything, remember that a pensionable salary difference of less than £1,000 won't make a massive difference to the amount of pension you are due, especially if you had relatively short service with this employer (and given it was 25 years ago and you've not yet reached the scheme's retirement age, I suspect that assumption may not be too wide of the mark).

JezR

Depending on the scheme conditions, the pensionable salary might not be equal to 100% of the final salary but a percentage of it. One of mine for example was 92.5%.

Seabee42

Very few schemes actually just use the last salary you are on (average of the last twelve months is common). If you are certain it is a mistake however you will have to prove it with for example a payslip showing the higher salary and preferably the pension deduction based on that salary.

Marcon

JezR wrote: »

Depending on the scheme conditions, the pensionable salary might not be equal to 100% of the final salary but a percentage of it. One of mine for example was 92.5%.

See post 5 above - OP has already confirmed the relevant definition.

JezR

Only mentioned just in case there was an obscure clause somewhere not previously realised about - and of course it could possibly help someone else in the future with an apparent discrepancy too. These reduction figures often turn up in schemes that have been adapted in the course of operation to shoehorn in spouses' pensions.

Terron

Dox wrote: »

It may be galling to believe/be certain the amount is wrong, but before getting too steamed up about anything, remember that a pensionable salary difference of less than £1,000 won't make a massive difference to the amount of pension you are due, especially if you had relatively short service with this employer (and given it was 25 years ago and you've not yet reached the scheme's retirement age, I suspect that assumption may not be too wide of the mark).

I am not "steamed up" about it. £1000 * 5.5 years of service * (1/60) * (7/12 of a year at the higher salary) *.75 =~£40 per year is not worth it, especially as it is not indexed linked. Though the boost to the TFLS would be nice.