Widows Pension Scheme Refund

jillarey

I am due a refund for the contributions I paid into the Civil Service Pension Scheme?
I retired through ill health due to my disability.  

Am I entitled to know the interest rate that was applied to my 26 years of contributions?
They took £2000 from me in 2004 to make up the shortfall in contributions until my eligible pension age at 60.  It appears only 1% interest was given to this amount which falls well below the interest rates in 2004.
I need to know how the money I paid into this Scheme was invested and feel it is my right to know what interest rates where added.

Do I have a legal right to this information?

molerat

Not sure you have a legal right to the precise calculations as it may be a statutory provision but they should give you a basic calculation of how it was arrived at if you ask, there may well be a delay in receiving that at the moment though. The money would not have been invested, I am sure that only applied to AVCs, so there would be nothing to see there.  I do hope you have taken advice on the tax implications of the refund.

Marcon

jillarey said:

I am due a refund for the contributions I paid into the Civil Service Pension Scheme?
I retired through ill health due to my disability.  

Am I entitled to know the interest rate that was applied to my 26 years of contributions?
They took £2000 from me in 2004 to make up the shortfall in contributions until my eligible pension age at 60.  It appears only 1% interest was given to this amount which falls well below the interest rates in 2004.
I need to know how the money I paid into this Scheme was invested and feel it is my right to know what interest rates where added.

Do I have a legal right to this information?

Which Civil Service Pension Scheme(s) are you talking about?

If you retired through ill health and are now receiving a Civil Service pension, why would you be entitled to a refund of your contributions?

JoeCrystal

Marcon said:

Which Civil Service Pension Scheme(s) are you talking about?

If you retired through ill health and are now receiving a Civil Service pension, why would you be entitled to a refund of your contributions?

Believe it or not, they can get a refund of their WPS contributions! As copied from classic retirement benefit leaflet. Of course, this was from the time when the civil servants don't contribute anything toward their pension scheme apart from a modest 1.5% contribution for WPS. 

Am I entitled to a refund of my WPS contributions?

If you remain single through to your retirement, you will receive a refund of the widows/widowers contributions you paid for the period that you were single. This will be paid as an additional lump sum when you finally leave and take your pension, provided that this will not exceed the limit set by HMRC. (In the unlikely event that this applies, the excess will be paid to you as pension instead.) The lump sum will have deducted from it a one-off payment to provide a widow’s, widower’s or civil partner’s pension in case you marry or register a civil partnership after you retire. If you have been married or in a civil partnership during your service, the payment will be based on your service since your marriage or civil partnership ended.

Marcon

JoeCrystal said:

Marcon said:

Which Civil Service Pension Scheme(s) are you talking about?

If you retired through ill health and are now receiving a Civil Service pension, why would you be entitled to a refund of your contributions?

Believe it or not, they can get a refund of their WPS contributions! As copied from classic retirement benefit leaflet. Of course, this was from the time when the civil servants don't contribute anything toward their pension scheme apart from a modest 1.5% contribution for WPS. 

Am I entitled to a refund of my WPS contributions?

If you remain single through to your retirement, you will receive a refund of the widows/widowers contributions you paid for the period that you were single. This will be paid as an additional lump sum when you finally leave and take your pension, provided that this will not exceed the limit set by HMRC. (In the unlikely event that this applies, the excess will be paid to you as pension instead.) The lump sum will have deducted from it a one-off payment to provide a widow’s, widower’s or civil partner’s pension in case you marry or register a civil partnership after you retire. If you have been married or in a civil partnership during your service, the payment will be based on your service since your marriage or civil partnership ended.

Thank you for that. Sometimes words fail me!

OP, have you actually asked the scheme administrators for the information and if so, have they refused to provide it?

antonic

They deduct about a third of the value of your Widows and Orphans Contributions when you retire to cover the probability that you may get married/have kids after retirement, but the actual value is calculated on an individual basis.
I know this because I am Civil Servant of a certain vintage who is single/ no kids etc and asked this at a recent Pensions meeting (pre COVID of course).

davidr1964

You can ask for an estimate. I did this in November, my estimated amount was £13k with a £3k deduction.