British Telecom lost pension - who to contact

Misslayed

I worked for British Telecom as a telephonist from 1981 - 1984. I've received my NI record from HMRC, those years show that I had  contracted out earnings.  I'm wondering (hoping) that I might have a small pension due from this. The government pension search says details are archived, have not been updated for some time. Anyone got any ideas on who to contact? 

ETA I've just spoken to very helpful chap at number for folk who currently work for BT, he had no record of my name, dob or NI number, which puzzled him. 

Silvertabby

Unfortunately, pre 1988 you would have needed at least 5 years service to qualify for actual pension rights.

Were you under 26 when you left?  If so, then it is possible that your contributions were automatically refunded to you, probably by cheque.

If you were refunded, then BT should have recovered your NI rebate and paid it over to  COEG, so that period of service would then count towards your additional State pension.  However, I know from my LGPS experience that the dots didn't always connect....

Eldi_Dos

Were telephonist's jobs outsourced after you left,which might muddy the waters as far as records go.

Misslayed

Thank you! You saved me a lot of running around in circles. I was 28 when I left, and you have stirred a very vague memory of a surprise cheque. I might try HMRC to check that when things eventually calm down. 

Marcon

Misslayed said:

I worked for British Telecom as a telephonist from 1981 - 1984. I've received my NI record from HMRC, those years show that I had  contracted out earnings.  I'm wondering (hoping) that I might have a small pension due from this. The government pension search says details are archived, have not been updated for some time. Anyone got any ideas on who to contact? 

ETA I've just spoken to very helpful chap at number for folk who currently work for BT, he had no record of my name, dob or NI number, which puzzled him. 

If you've just received a huge amount of info in relation to your NI record (I had about 175 double sided pages!), head towards the back of the pile and you should see a couple of pages headed 'Scheme Membership'. 

Silvertabby said:

Unfortunately, pre 1988 you would have needed at least 5 years service to qualify for actual pension rights.

If you were contracted out for the 3 years you were in the BT scheme but didn't qualify for a preserved (aka deferred) pension, you'll see the words: 'Method of preservation: CONTRIBUTIONS EQUIVALENT PREMIUM' (their capitals, not me shouting!), meaning you were reinstated into SERPS for that period. If that wording doesn't appear, it is possible that you could have had a deferred pension despite your service being under 5 years - it depends on the rules of the scheme.

Silvertabby, not sure if you are making a general comment, or are sure that the BT rules stipulated 5 years minimum was needed..?

Silvertabby

Marcon said:

Misslayed said:

I worked for British Telecom as a telephonist from 1981 - 1984. I've received my NI record from HMRC, those years show that I had  contracted out earnings.  I'm wondering (hoping) that I might have a small pension due from this. The government pension search says details are archived, have not been updated for some time. Anyone got any ideas on who to contact? 

ETA I've just spoken to very helpful chap at number for folk who currently work for BT, he had no record of my name, dob or NI number, which puzzled him. 

If you've just received a huge amount of info in relation to your NI record (I had about 175 double sided pages!), head towards the back of the pile and you should see a couple of pages headed 'Scheme Membership'. 

Silvertabby said:

Unfortunately, pre 1988 you would have needed at least 5 years service to qualify for actual pension rights.

If you were contracted out for the 3 years you were in the BT scheme but didn't qualify for a preserved (aka deferred) pension, you'll see the words: 'Method of preservation: CONTRIBUTIONS EQUIVALENT PREMIUM' (their capitals, not me shouting!), meaning you were reinstated into SERPS for that period. If that wording doesn't appear, it is possible that you could have had a deferred pension despite your service being under 5 years - it depends on the rules of the scheme.

Silvertabby, not sure if you are making a general comment, or are sure that the BT rules stipulated 5 years minimum was needed..?

Marcon - the 5 years vesting period was pretty standard pre 1988.  OP now has a recollection of a 'surprise cheque', which would indicate she wasn't entitled to preserved pension benefits.