Pension company not allowing me to move my money due to ex-employer not updating address

tangerine27

Hi all,
Bit of a weird situation I think - not sure if I'm allowed to mention what company my pension is with so I'll just call them A from now on.
At my ex employment (let go due to Covid) my pension was auto enrolled with A. I moved house in the August after starting work for them in the July, and I updated my address on the HR program. However my employer never passed this on to A. While I worked there, I tried to move a previous pension (B) into this same pot and so I put in a request with A to transfer this pension over. They said they couldn't as my employer hadn't updated my address - so I asked my employer could they please do that and they said they would. Then there was some issue where "we aren't able to do that" (I don't remember exactly as these emails were on my work account which has been erased) and I decided to just leave the pensions as they were.
Now I don't work for them any more, and I want to put both pensions A and B into another company, C. I put in the request and again it was denied as the addresses don't match. I asked my employer to do this (I actually went for the head of the company, instead of my ex line manager, as I thought perhaps he would have the permission to update the address) and he said he would, however he hasn't and is now not responding to my emails.
The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.
What can I do? Is this illegal in some way? I have no idea who to turn to for help?
Edit: Forgot to mention, I have shown company A my P45 with my correct address on it, and they still won't accept that.

Silvertabby

.. and when you ask your ex-employer to upate your address, they'll probably say that they can't as they no longer have an active employer/pension fund link for you.

This really is nonsense.  Make an official complaint to A.

tangerine27

Silvertabby said:

.. and when you ask your ex-employer to upate your address, they'll probably say that they can't as they no longer have an active employer/pension fund link for you.

This really is nonsense.  Make an official complaint to A.

That's the thing... when I log into my pension it still says it's active and has no end date!
I've sent them one last email asking if me sending them the email chain between my ex employer and me is enough for them to update the address themselves. Hopefully they say yes but if not, official complaint will be my next move!

dunstonh

The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.

Is the pension an occupational pension scheme in a traditional sense or is it a group personal pension/stakeholder pension operated by an insurance company.   Often the way to tell is that a traditional occupational pension requires you to communicate via an administrator or the employer HR/pensions department (even where there may be an insurance company running the pension scheme).  Whereas a group scheme will take instructions from you.

Where there is an administrator company or the employer HR/pensions department do the work, the administration for things like change of address goes through them.  

Is this illegal in some way? 

It wont be illegal.  its just messy 

tangerine27

dunstonh said:

The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.

Is the pension an occupational pension scheme in a traditional sense or is it a group personal pension/stakeholder pension operated by an insurance company.   Often the way to tell is that a traditional occupational pension requires you to communicate via an administrator or the employer HR/pensions department (even where there may be an insurance company running the pension scheme).  Whereas a group scheme will take instructions from you.

Where there is an administrator company or the employer HR/pensions department do the work, the administration for things like change of address goes through them.  

Is this illegal in some way? 

It wont be illegal.  its just messy 

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?
It's just the pension that I was enrolled into automatically - I don't think they are an insurance company.
Super messy!

Albermarle

Will be a lot easier if you just name Pension company A - there is no issue about doing that .

dunstonh

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?

There are about 13 different types of pension in the UK.   So without knowing what pension A or pension B is it is impossible to answer.  Name them.

garmeg

tangerine27 said:

dunstonh said:

The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.

Is the pension an occupational pension scheme in a traditional sense or is it a group personal pension/stakeholder pension operated by an insurance company.   Often the way to tell is that a traditional occupational pension requires you to communicate via an administrator or the employer HR/pensions department (even where there may be an insurance company running the pension scheme).  Whereas a group scheme will take instructions from you.

Where there is an administrator company or the employer HR/pensions department do the work, the administration for things like change of address goes through them.  

Is this illegal in some way? 

It wont be illegal.  its just messy 

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?
It's just the pension that I was enrolled into automatically - I don't think they are an insurance company.
Super messy!

Can you not write to company A giving your new details?

tangerine27

garmeg said:

tangerine27 said:

dunstonh said:

The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.

Is the pension an occupational pension scheme in a traditional sense or is it a group personal pension/stakeholder pension operated by an insurance company.   Often the way to tell is that a traditional occupational pension requires you to communicate via an administrator or the employer HR/pensions department (even where there may be an insurance company running the pension scheme).  Whereas a group scheme will take instructions from you.

Where there is an administrator company or the employer HR/pensions department do the work, the administration for things like change of address goes through them.  

Is this illegal in some way? 

It wont be illegal.  its just messy 

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?
It's just the pension that I was enrolled into automatically - I don't think they are an insurance company.
Super messy!

Can you not write to company A giving your new details?

Have done, they won’t accept it from me, only my ex employer.

It’s Now Pensions.

tangerine27

Albermarle said:

Will be a lot easier if you just name Pension company A - there is no issue about doing that .

dunstonh said:

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?

There are about 13 different types of pension in the UK.   So without knowing what pension A or pension B is it is impossible to answer.  Name them.

Now Pensions is A and Nest Pensions is B

garmeg

tangerine27 said:

garmeg said:

tangerine27 said:

dunstonh said:

The pension company say the address update MUST come from my employer and not me. There is no way to change it in my account as it's such a simplistic system.

Is the pension an occupational pension scheme in a traditional sense or is it a group personal pension/stakeholder pension operated by an insurance company.   Often the way to tell is that a traditional occupational pension requires you to communicate via an administrator or the employer HR/pensions department (even where there may be an insurance company running the pension scheme).  Whereas a group scheme will take instructions from you.

Where there is an administrator company or the employer HR/pensions department do the work, the administration for things like change of address goes through them.  

Is this illegal in some way? 

It wont be illegal.  its just messy 

I have no idea, but pension B had a section on my account where I could update all my details, pension A doesn't have this - are they two different types?
It's just the pension that I was enrolled into automatically - I don't think they are an insurance company.
Super messy!

Can you not write to company A giving your new details?

Have done, they won’t accept it from me, only my ex employer.

It’s Now Pensions.

How useless is that. Pathetic.