NHS/Personal Pension Quandry

jamesd

0.4% is very competitive indeed, particularly for an older plan where it can be expected to include both the pension platform charge and the fund charges. It's just barely possible to do better through shopping around, with around 0.2% platform charge and some tracker funds costing under 0.2% available but it'll take a bit of shopping around and might not be worth it anyway.

Best to try to get answers on GMP and GAR and then it'll be possible to give a properly informed answer about whether trying for lower charges looks good.

For now, though, you can relax a lot because you don't seem to have a bad deal at all, far from it.

xylophone

Best to try to get answers on GMP 

There won't be a GMP. The OP said that the pension was started around 2001 - GMP system ended from 6/4/97.

https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-GB/Insights/2019/02/questions-you-are-too-afraid-to-ask-about-gmp-equalisation#3.What is GMP?

3. What is GMP?

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) is the minimum guaranteed level of pension, which a pension scheme had to provide to members if they were contracted out of the SERPS between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997.

tylr

Thanks for all of the information @xylophone and @jamesd
Glad to hear that the scheme isn't terrible, at least my old employer did something useful!

Now to try and track down what appears to be another possible pension from the same employer from when they sold the business on as I've just found paperwork about that!

xylophone

Have you obtained a State Pension Forecast?

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

You can get hold of your full NI history  (link below)

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI?_ga=2.230026460.1544670040.1621021753-1315656139.1609178084

When exactly were you working for the employer in question?

jamesd

As xylophone mentioned it's likely that GMP isn't relevant for you and GARs also ceased around 2000 so that's also not very likely given the 20+ years ago you mentioned, but checking beats not since + isn't a precise date. Naturally if you have a precise date and it's after the ending of GMP you can be certain that there is no GMP. GAR was market forces so it had a more blurred ending date.

That NI history xylophone mentioned is extremely comprehensive and should tell you all sorts of interesting things about what you were earning and where your money was going.

xylophone

+ isn't a precise date. 

Yes indeed - I am assuming that the OP joined the pension scheme after 6/4/97 - if he joined before this he should check any GMP situation.