COPE question.

RonRamsgate

On my recent state pension forecast i have a cope estimate.

My pension provider has been Royal London, in 2017 i cashed in the remainder of my policies and have not heard from Royal London since. I have 4 years until i reach state pension age.
Q  Do private pension companies make contact at state pension age or before and ask where to pay the cope payments ? is there anything i need to do.
Having read through the RL conditions has not been of any use.

Thanks in advance 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

RonRamsgate said:

On my recent state pension forecast i have a cope estimate.

My pension provider has been Royal London, in 2017 i cashed in the remainder of my policies and have not heard from Royal London since. I have 4 years until i reach state pension age.
Q  Do private pension companies make contact at state pension age or before and ask where to pay the cope payments ? is there anything i need to do.
Having read through the RL conditions has not been of any use.

Thanks in advance 

Unlikely.  You can probably take money from your RL pension as soon as you are (were) 55, there is no fixed date like the State Pension 

And there is unlikely to be a specific "COPE" element, its usually just an integral part of your RL fund.

Flugelhorn

agree don't think there is any "extra" COPE money, it is just included in what you get anyway from pension provider

dunstonh

Q  Do private pension companies make contact at state pension age or before and ask where to pay the cope payments ?

No.

They make contact in the years leading upto the pension scheme age and repeat until the scheme age.

Having read through the RL conditions has not been of any use.

Its not the sort of thing you would have in the T&C and it wouldn't matter anyway as the FCA changed the rules just a few years back.

MovingForwards

When you say "cashed in" do you mean took every penny from the RL pensions?

Qyburn

RonRamsgate said:

My pension provider has been Royal London, in 2017 i cashed in the remainder of my policies and have not heard from Royal London since. I have 4 years until i reach state pension age.

I have a Royal London pension, it is an employer's group scheme so the detail may differ.  However they have on file a target retirement age, presumably based on the discussion when I joined the plan, and a default action when that date is reached.  In my case that default action is to pay out in a single lump sum, I don't know where that came from.

But my point is that you should make contact with them and make sure both of these are correct for your circumstances.  Make sure they have your address correct, as I would have expected you to have received at least annual statements.  And finally you can probably set up online access so you can see it first hand.

Marcon

RonRamsgate said:

On my recent state pension forecast i have a cope estimate.

My pension provider has been Royal London, in 2017 i cashed in the remainder of my policies and have not heard from Royal London since. I have 4 years until i reach state pension age.
Q  Do private pension companies make contact at state pension age or before and ask where to pay the cope payments ? is there anything i need to do.
Having read through the RL conditions has not been of any use.

Thanks in advance 

If you've already cashed in all your RL policies, there is no money left with them to pay any benefits and you aren't going to hear further from them. 

There are no COPE-specific payments; your state pension forecast simply indicates the deduction from the starting level of your state pension made as a result of your being contracted out of the state additional pension i.e. how much state additional pension you chose to give up by contracting out. There is no guarantee at all that your private pension arrangements will match this - much will depend on where you chose to invest your private pension funds.

xylophone

On my recent state pension forecast i have a cope estimate.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-state-pension-if-youve-been-contracted-out-of-additional-state-pension/the-new-state-pension-transition-and-contracting-out-fact-sheet

This was used once only  (6/4/16) in establishing your "starting amount" for new state pension.

Old Rules

NI years/30 (max) x Full Basic State Pension + (Additional State Pension - Deduction for Contracting Out).

 New Rules

(NI years/35 (max) x Full New State Pension) - Contracted Out Pension Equivalent.


Your "starting amount" was the higher of the two.

You would have been in one of three positions.

Starting amount equal to full NSP

Starting amount more than full new state pension.

Starting amount less than full NSP.

If the individual's  forecast starting amount was equal to or more than a full NSP, he could not improve it any more, although if he were still under SPA and earning the relevant amount, he would still need to pay NI.

If it was less than a full new state pension, there was the possibility of improving it up to (but not more than) a full NSP by further contributions or credits.

What exactly does your State Pension Forecast say?

RonRamsgate

What exactly does your State Pension Forecast say?

Hi all, many thanks for taking the time to reply. Redacted pension forecast.

eskbanker

Given that forecast, you should follow the link about identifying and filling gaps in your NI record, as this is generally a very cost-effective way of boosting your state pension.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You are a definite winner under the new system, years of paying less NI and now have the opportunity to reach the standard new State Pension.