How to help my dad?

Throwaway1

Ok, just got off of the phone with my dad. He did sign his pension over many years ago  it is currently with Aviva. He had the MPS from 1977-1993. The person who is looking into it for him is with Corries solicitors and he said he saw about it through something that said 'Are you being owed? Mineworker's Pension Scheme'. He said they have been looking into it for a few months, he hasn't paid them anything yet and they have sent him a form to sign, that he hasn't yet signed but they have told him he needs to send it ASAP. He also said they said something about Aviva keeps stalling. It's quite hard to get information from him as he keeps going off track but he is going to take a photo of the letter and send it to me. Can anyone offer any urgent advice of if they are reputable and if he should continue down this line? He is worried that as they are already looking into it, if he changes to someone else who then fails in their claim, he will not be able to go back to them who he believes are able to help.

He also has numerous other pensions I think, and he thinks that he had one with Pearson & Associates that got transferred to London and Manchester and then transferred into the Aviva one. I don't know anything else about those yet but he's going to try and dig things out. He thinks he may have other bits of pensions somewhere but he's not sure.

Throwaway1

wjr4 said:

Please make sure you check who he is speaking with re. his MPS. 

Hi, wjr4, I have asked my dad about this and have laid out a little more detail above. I would be very interested in any advice you could give.

xylophone

These people?
https://www.corries.co.uk/pension-claims/  
https://www.corries.co.uk/they-were-like-leeches-on-the-backs-of-hard-working-people/

xylophone

Your father should check his state pension forecast.
With regard to his other pensions, what documentation does he have?
https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

Throwaway1

xylophone said:

These people?
https://www.corries.co.uk/pension-claims/  
https://www.corries.co.uk/they-were-like-leeches-on-the-backs-of-hard-working-people/

I think so, he said the firm was called Corries and spelled it out over the phone like that.xylophone said:

Your father should check his state pension forecast.
With regard to his other pensions, what documentation does he have?
https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

I will get him to check it, it may be like pulling teeth explaining how over the phone, he's not the most tech savvy. It's so annoying that I can't go around and actually sit with him and help. He is going to dig out all documentation tonight and send photos of what he can.

Albermarle

He did sign his pension over many years ago  it is currently with Aviva. He had the MPS from 1977-1993.

Although it is very likely that transferring out of the MPS was a bad idea , at least the money went to a reputable pension provider. In some cases it disappeared into investments in Peruvian rubber plantations and the like.

I guess it is possible that the pension investments in Aviva have done well over the years , so then it would be difficult for the solicitors to claim loss of earnings . In any case they will want a big slice of any compensation, that's for sure.

Throwaway1

Ok, I've got the photos of the old pit pension; still nothing on the others yet. It is invested in 4 different funds, with one being a 'with-profits' fund. Current value of £117,894.47 and states a monthly fee of £38.66 (this seems a lot to me). He has 8 different policy numbers listed and four of them have a selected retirement date of when he turns 65 but four of them have a selected retirement date of 75 (I don't know why it would say this as there's no way he would have wanted to wait until 75, I'm wondering if it could be an error as 2032 could be a typo of 2023). They say that presuming no lump sum, he could get £512 a year from age 65 and then £4360 a year from age 75 for his lifetime for a minimum of 5 years. Spouse income of half those amounts following death.

Throwaway1

xylophone said:

Your father should check his state pension forecast.
With regard to his other pensions, what documentation does he have?
https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

My dad has now checked his state pension forecast. He has 45 years of contributions (just one partial year during the miner's strike) and so is entitled to the full £175.20 a week from the age of 66.

That means, so far, he has a forecast of:

From the age of 65: £512 a year from part of his transferred pit pension

From the age of 66: £9141.69 a year from his state pension

From the age of 75: £4360 a year from part of his transferred pit pension

Plus whatever is in any other pension that he is going to dig out hopefully today but he has been working 7 days in a row and is really tired so I have to give him chance to move at his own pace. He said his current work where he has been for 15 years didn't have a pension until the auto-enrolment started so there won't be much in there and he said his work said he can't get that until he is 68. He knows he has a pension from his previous place of work where he was for 10 years and that he thinks he may have another from before that so that needs investigating.

He is very unhappy and concerned about the largest part of his pit pension being unavailable until he is 75. He has no idea why that age is given and is 100% adament that he would never have told anyone that he wanted to wait until he is 75. He initially said 'they can say 75 all they want but it's up to me' but I had to point out that it says his bonuses can be redacted if he takes it earlier than is stated. I'm hoping this can be taken into account when his claim is investigated as he could have been drawing his MPS from age 60.

Throwaway1

Albermarle said:

In any case they will want a big slice of any compensation, that's for sure.

The fees are 20% plus VAT. He's taking the opinion of 'I've got 100% of nothing at the minute so owt's better than nowt'. No win, no fee is probably the right way to go with this as it is from so long ago that I'm not sure what the chances of being successful actually are and he doesn't want to spend any money chasing potentially nothing (even if he could get much more in the long run). He also seems to be viewing Corries as some sort of specialist in these types of claims who are more likley to win - how true that is I don't know.

[Deleted User]

The 65 and 75 as a selected retirement date - is that for the transferred out ones? If these are normal personal pensions - the selected retirement date (normally called target retirement date) is irrelevant. How much are the with profits bonuses?