Opted out sometime in late 1980's and need to track down my pension as left UK

xylophone

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

If my contributions were being paid to a third party though surely DWP must know who they are paying them over to? They must have some record of where the contributions are going......?

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75903375/#Comment_75903375

The DWP guy advised that DWP records are received from HMRC. I called HMRC. HMRC hold a detailed record of all NI payments received. This includes information on SERPS deductions and the pension schemes that have received the SERPs benefit.

It may be worth a query?

Marcon

xylophone said:

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

If my contributions were being paid to a third party though surely DWP must know who they are paying them over to? They must have some record of where the contributions are going......?

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75903375/#Comment_75903375

The DWP guy advised that DWP records are received from HMRC. I called HMRC. HMRC hold a detailed record of all NI payments received. This includes information on SERPS deductions and the pension schemes that have received the SERPs benefit.

It may be worth a query?

Always worth a go, but looking at that thread, it looks as if all the schemes were occupational (as opposed to personal) pensions.

I've yet to come across anyone who has been able to get HMRC or DWP to confirm which scheme was involved where the scheme is question was a personal pension set up purely to receive NI rebates to contract out of SERPS. Several people have claimed to have done so, but on investigation admitted that wasn't the case - they'd simply lost the thread of the saga in which they had become embroiled.

Brynsam

Chantellesquandry said:

xylophone said:

Have you yet obtained a state pension forecast? See above.

Have tried to contact my employer at the time, Middleton Potts, but I think they have closed down. 

The firm of solicitors? https://www.internationallawoffice.com/Directory/Middleton-Potts/London#

 Merged with Hill Dickinson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_Dickinson

I've emailed this morning - hopefully will get a response.
If my contributions were being paid to a third party though surely DWP must know who they are paying them over to? They must have some record of where the contributions are going......?

I think you are over-estimating the DWP's record keeping, especially given the time period in question. Any number of these pensions were set up around this time (personal pensions had just been introduced, in July 1988) and full computerisation of records was yet to come.

The other issue is that many of these early policies had such hefty charges that the 'pot' often dwindled to nil if someone only contributed for a short time, or DWP NI rebates were only paid for a short time (perhaps because the individual changed jobs and joined a 'contracted out' pension scheme). They often had monthly fixed fees which were unrelated to the amount in the pot, which is why such a scenario was far from uncommon. Some pension providers archived the files, others just shredded them, making the hunt for the missing pension plan hit and miss.

Chantellesquandry

Happy days I actually managed to find an original letter from 1998 with my policy number on and I did contract out of SERPS.  Thanks for everyone's feedback.  Hopefully I am now a millionaire! 

xylophone

Thanks for everyone's feedback.  Hopefully I am now a millionaire!  

A good outcome........we'll now be sending in our fee notes  for a slice of the action!

garmeg

Chantellesquandry said:

Happy days I actually managed to find an original letter from 1998 with my policy number on and I did contract out of SERPS.  Thanks for everyone's feedback.  Hopefully I am now a millionaire! 

Well done, who was it with?