Deferred GMP only pension and early retirement

tarbat

xylophone wrote: »

I have to say that I am very puzzled.

Yes, I'm sorry, that's my fault!! I misread the different optional sections on the transfer forms. There are 3 options - 1. Occupational Pension Scheme, 2. Personal Pension Scheme, 3. Buy-out Policy. The questions about securing GMP, etc. only apply to option 3 (buy-out). Although this whole discussion has really helped me understand this area of pension management.

So it does seem that I can transfer the full CETV to a personal pension scheme, take 25% TFLS and then income drawdown or even a short fixed term annuity. I'm simply aiming to use this CETV to fill a gap between my current age (62) and when my state pension starts (66).

Off to see my IFA later today to get this organised. I'm sure he'll advise me that transferring out from the excellent National Grid pension is a bad idea, although I've worked the break-even point out to be around age 80.

I'm still surprised that this pension suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I was only at the Gas Board for just over 2 years, took a refund of contributions and never realised that my contracted-out GMP was still sitting there waiting for me to claim it 35 years later. And it was worth over £37,000

Full marks to National Grid for actually going to the trouble of tracking me down after 7 house moves. It's made me start reviewing all my other contracted-out periods of employment to find any other pots of gold I don't know about

parcival

I am very interested in GMP's as I have several as does Mrs P. This forum has been very helpful in understanding them.

I worked for Barclays Bank for just under 2 years when I left school at 18 (1976). Although it is a long time ago, I have a vague memory of getting my pension contributions refunded to me.

Is it possible that I have a small GMP sitting in the Barclays scheme.
They would have no way of contacting me......

tarbat

parcival wrote: »

Is it possible that I have a small GMP sitting in the Barclays scheme.
They would have no way of contacting me......

Its possible, although being less than 2 years maybe not. Only way to be sure is to contact them.

The other steps I've taken:
1. Asked for a written state pension forecast, which I understand should trigger HMRC to check contracted out periods. Still awaiting a reply.
2. Wrote to NISPI. That's who HMRC recommended I write to to get a list of years and pension schemes where HMRC think I was contracted out. Still awaiting a reply.
3. Write to all the different pension schemes I've been a member of asking if I have any pension entitlement.

tarbat

Brynsam wrote: »

If you are looking at transferring out with a CETV of £30,000+, you'll need to take advice (mandatory - could cost around £5K or more) and there are strict deadlines you'll need to meet - the clock is already ticking, so you need to crack on immediately if you are considering a transfer.

And a warning to anyone else going down this route. The mandatory advice is expensive, and crucially is payable even if the IFA then recommends that you don't transfer the pension, even if you are 100% convinced it's the right option.

I've now got to decide whether to risk £3,000 with the real possibility that I won't be able to transfer. I believe I have a strong case (shortened life due to medical, other pensions in place, etc.) but I'm not sure I can take the risk.

Do IFAs normally end up advising not to transfer, and still pocketing the fees?

The current setup seems to penalise those who know what they're doing, just to protect those who don't know what they're doing

tarbat

tarbat wrote: »

2. Wrote to NISPI. That's who HMRC recommended I write to to get a list of years and pension schemes where HMRC think I was contracted out. Still awaiting a reply.

Well, NISPI have been very helpful and sent me a full list of all my contracted out periods. They also provided a list of CEP payments. That has allowed me to identify two more periods of contracting out that don't have matching CEP payments, that I'm now pursuing:
- Parity Solutions : Looks like I have 2 years contracting out 23 years ago.
- Allied Dunbar : Looks like I have 4-5 years contracting out 31 years ago.

The biggest challenge is proving which administrator currently owns the liabilities for very old pension schemes, as the Government's Pension Tracing Service is very unreliable!! Getting passed from company to company tracing down schemes that have been sold on several times. The list from NISPI was again very helpful as it lists the exact scheme name. It's just a shame that list doesn't say who the current administrator is!!

On the National Grid pension, advice is proceeding and looks promising.

xylophone

Well, NISPI have been very helpful and sent me a full list of all my contracted out periods. They also provided a list of CEP payments. That has allowed me to identify two more periods of contracting out that don't have matching CEP payments, that I'm now pursuing:

You had a look at the thread linked in post 8?

Do IFAs normally end up advising not to transfer, and still pocketing the fees?

You required to demonstrate to the ceding scheme that you have obtained the necessary advice from a PTS, not that you have followed it.

But not all schemes will accept a transfer against advice- example


https://www.fidelity.co.uk/approaching-retirement/transferring-final-salary-pensions/


That said,

https://www.pruadviser.co.uk/knowledge-literature/knowledge-library/transfer-pension-scheme/

However, although most schemes provide the right to transfer, not every scheme has to accept an incoming transfer.

A stakeholder pension scheme is currently the only type of scheme which must accept any transfer from another registered pension scheme.

https://www.pruadviser.co.uk/knowledge-literature/knowledge-library/pension-transfers-conversions/

DBdoobydoo

tarbat wrote: »

Well, NISPI have been very helpful and sent me a full list of all my contracted out periods. They also provided a list of CEP payments. That has allowed me to identify two more periods of contracting out that don't have matching CEP payments, that I'm now pursuing:

Please can you tell us the contact address you used for NISPI? I can't find one despite some deep Googling. All the references I found are for use by pension scheme administrators & I couldn't find a "consumer" contact.

tarbat

DBdoobydoo wrote: »

Please can you tell us the contact address you used for NISPI? I can't find one despite some deep Googling. All the references I found are for use by pension scheme administrators & I couldn't find a "consumer" contact.

I wrote to:
NISPI
National Insurance Contributions and Employers Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1BX
United Kingdom

Telephone: 0300 200 3500 (+44 191 203 7010)

I was given this address in an email reply from FPC.CUSTOMERCARE@dwp.gov.uk

The correspondence I received about a month later was a NISPI_COSR16 form.

DBdoobydoo

tarbat wrote: »

I wrote to:
NISPI
National Insurance Contributions and Employers Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1BX
United Kingdom

Telephone: 0300 200 3500 (+44 191 203 7010)

I was given this address in an email reply from [EMAIL="FPC.CUSTOMERCARE@dwp.gov.uk"]FPC.CUSTOMERCARE@dwp.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

The correspondence I received about a month later was a NISPI_COSR16 form.

Thanks a lot. I'll write to them myself as I know that I had a contracted out period where I had contributions refunded after I left the employer. It would be nice to know that they definitely paid the CEP.

tarbat

tarbat wrote: »

I've now got to decide whether to risk £3,000 with the real possibility that I won't be able to transfer. I believe I have a strong case (shortened life due to medical, other pensions in place, etc.) but I'm not sure I can take the risk.

Thought it was time for an update. After just over a month of work, I now have a recommendation from my advisor at PensionLite for a 4 year fixed term annuity with L&G. Whole process is costing £2,000 for their fee, and it now looks like I'm close to finally getting my GMP pension.

I wish the same could be said for my GMP pension at Parity Consulting. HMRC list this as another contracted-out period, with no CEP repaid, but the current administrators for the pension scheme deny all knowledge of any GMP pension being due. It's only 7 months of contracting out, but that would work out at around £5k CETV, so worth pursuing. My NI records show me paying NI contributions in that year that I calculate to be at the contracted out rate of 8.2%, rather than the standard 10% rate.

Anyone have any ideas how I can actually prove I'm owed this GMP pension from Parity Group Pension Scheme? I have no paperwork, as I'm pretty sure I took a refund of contributions when I left.