I opted out of serps - helps required

Donna37

Hi all
i opted out of serps when I was about 17 or 18 on the advice of a then boyfriend.
i am now 49 and I contacted a company on Facebook who were advertising to look into peoples pensions who had opted out of serps and help them claim the money back by assessing my state pension information, contacting Hmrc on my behalf and negotiating with the insurers on my behalf to see what happened to my policy etc.
has anyone else done this?
since I opted out years ago I get pension updates from royal London but I never contacted this company myself and I’m really confused by it all.
i keep on getting emails from MK financial planning Ltd and serps pension review to sign and send back the paperwork they have sent me so I don’t loose out on money.
any info would be greatly appreciated as I’m at a loss at what to do as I would like a state pension when I retire.

p00hsticks

Have you got a state pension forecast ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

I really wouldn't be using a company who wil ltake a wodge of any money you might get  

Donna37

No I haven’t.
That is my thoughts exactly which is why I’ve not signed the paperwork yet.

xylophone

since I opted out years ago I get pension updates from royal London 

Then you know where you are with the pension?

You can get a state pension forecast yourself (link above).

dunstonh

i opted out of serps when I was about 17 or 18 on the advice of a then boyfriend.

Well done. That was almost certainly the right thing to do.    (as you are aged under 40 at the time).

has anyone else done this?

The SIB carried out a review in 1996 and found that everyone that has contracted out was financially better off.  The regulator (FSA at the time) carried out a review around 2008 and found that there was a potential failure rate of around 1%.

They created a guide with a flowchart to see if you were potentially affected:

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100202114201/http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/s2p_wrongly_advised_ink.pdf

With the move to the single state pension, the ability to take the contracted out benefits as a lump sum (you cant if you contract in) and the ability to take them from 55 (not state pension age) means that most people are finacnially better off through contracting out.

The flow chart in the above guide should help see if you are in the likely affected group.  Based on what you have said, you are not.

Albermarle

I contacted a company on Facebook who were advertising to look into peoples pensions who had opted out of serps and help them claim the money back

First rule of financial common sense- do not respond to adverts on facebook ( or scambook as some call it) 

Opting out of Serps was for most people not a bad decision, and it was not a misselling scandal . From other similar threads the likelihood of any claim succeeding is extremely small.

Rather than sending info to 'MK financial planning ' better to spend some time understanding the pension fund you now have with Royal London ( huge reputable company ) .

After you have checked your current state pension forecast.

Dox

Was your boyfriend authorised and regulated to give financial advice?

Donna37

Thank you so much everyone.
ive just been on to the government gateway and set things up and taken a look at my pension forecast.  It wasn’t as bad a I originally thought.  I had a private pension with a company I was with for 13 years plus I have money in royal London and I have a lump sum pension in a pot from my divorce so hopefully I’ll be ok when I retire. 

GunJack

Albermarle said:

 facebook ( or scambook as some call it) 

Commonly known as FaceSlap round here

..along with the likes of InstaGrime, tw@tter and ScabChat

Albermarle

 I had a private pension with a company I was with for 13 years plus I have money in royal London and I have a lump sum pension in a pot from my divorce so hopefully I’ll be ok when I retire. 

Now you have cleared up the original reason for the post , it could be a good time to more closely examine the three pots above, rather than just hoping you will be OK when you retire.

Often people significantly underestimate how much money is needed in their pension pots to generate a decent income. For example to generate an annual income linked to inflation of £3,500 pa needs a sum of over £100,000

Better to more fully understand your position now rather than when it will be too late.

woolly_wombat

dunstonh said:

The SIB carried out a review in 1996 and found that everyone that has contracted out was financially better off.  The regulator (FSA at the time) carried out a review around 2008 and found that there was a potential failure rate of around 1%.

OH was most definitely NOT better off opting out of SERPs and into a with(out)-profits pension with Equitable Life.He would have been about to claim a very substantially higher indexed-for-life state pension if he hadn't done that.

Maggie Thatcher was a canny one, aiming to minimise the cost to the state, and OH fell for the opt-out bribe hook line and sinker.