SERPS pension review

KennyClan

Has anyone heard of SERP pension review? Or is it a scam. 

kuratowski

This looks like a scam. SERPS was an old state pension top up, if you were working you had no choice about contributing or not (National Insurance), so you could not possibly have been missold.

Dox

kuratowski said:

This looks like a scam. SERPS was an old state pension top up, if you were working you had no choice about contributing or not (National Insurance), so you could not possibly have been missold.

You certainly could! MIs-selling in this context relates to opting out of SERPS by means of a personal pension if you paid full rate NI in your employment. Part of your NI was rebated to the personal pension (known in the trade as an 'appropriate' personal pension - not the same thing as 'suitable') and you built up benefits in that instead of additional state pension. The FSA carried out a major review of such pensions and concluded that only a tiny percentage were mis-sold.

If you received advice to opt out of SERPS and believe this was wrong, complain direct to the adviser/product provider - you don't need to use a claims company. It isn't a scam, but it will normally cost you something to use their services if the claim succeeds (and sometimes even it doesn't).

Doesn't apply if you were in a company scheme which was 'contracted out' of SERPS (in which case you paid reduced rate NI), or if you were self employed.

More info: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2808917/Watchdog-rules-out-widespread-Serps-mis-selling.html

KennyClan

thank you for the advice. I was actually self employed so I won’t bother getting back to them. 

They did say it was no win no fee. 

Albermarle

In any case from previous threads it seems most people did better by opting out of SERPS and having a personal pension pot instead. In my own case it is at worst a 50:50 situation and probably better than that .
Very few of these pensions were missold .

dunstonh

If you were self employed, you couldnt contract out of SERPS.

Silvertabby

Likely to come back as ' you haven't been missold SERPS, but  'we can recommend a better private pension scheme than the one you are now in......'

kuratowski

This is exactly why I like these forums; you can always learn something new.

I thought the decision to opt out of SERPS was only made by employers (i.e. contracting out), the idea of individuals opting out is a new one for me.

I do still say the way the email is phrased suggests they are up to no good.  Probably in the way Silvertabby suggests.

Dox

kuratowski said:

This is exactly why I like these forums; you can always learn something new.

I thought the decision to opt out of SERPS was only made by employers (i.e. contracting out), the idea of individuals opting out is a new one for me.

I do still say the way the email is phrased suggests they are up to no good.  Probably in the way Silvertabby suggests.

The fact that OP 'passed the first online test' makes you wonder what the questions were! I'd have made Q.1: were you self employed? and Q.2: were you in a contracted out company/occupational scheme?

Albermarle

I thought the decision to opt out of SERPS was only made by employers (i.e. contracting out), the idea of individuals opting out is a new one for me.

I think typically the employer would offer the employee the opportunity to opt out/explain the situation,  and the employer would help set up an associated personal pension for the money to be diverted to. Probably only bigger , more organised companies would do this, as I do not think there was any actual benefit for the employer.

dunstonh

Contracting out of SERPS using individual pensions started in 1988 (although there was a small window where pre Royal Assent cases could be signed up in 1987).  There was enhanced contracted out rates for those that contracted out early.    As part of it was pre-regulation, many people could just fill in a single side of A4 with a provider to contract out.

The pensions were known as appropriate personal pension plans.   They received a rebate of NI paid into them.  There was no reduction in the NI rate (like being contracted out with a final salary scheme) and the employer was rarely involved.    Although there were contracted out money purchase occupational schemes available where no choice was given.