Pensions from 1984 until 1992

amandahc

Would I of had a pension with employers from 1984 until 1992?

I was employed full time from with Arval PHH in Swindon and they say they have no record of me.

The same of The Leeds Permanent Building Society, which is now part of Lloyds Banking Group. I was employed full time for from April 1988 until April 1992.

I don't have any payslips or P45 P60s from this time.

I have checked also with Pension Search through the .gov website.

I hope you can help me with this?

Many thanks

Silvertabby

If you left Arval in March 1988 you would have had less than the 5 years service you needed (at that time) to qualify for actual pension rights.  Depending on the scheme rules, you may have been offered the choice of a transfer to another scheme or a refund of your own contributions.  Can you remember receiving a lump sum payment after you left?

Marcon

amandahc said:

Would I of had a pension with employers from 1984 until 1992?

I was employed full time from with Arval PHH in Swindon and they say they have no record of me.

The same of The Leeds Permanent Building Society, which is now part of Lloyds Banking Group. I was employed full time for from April 1988 until April 1992.

I don't have any payslips or P45 P60s from this time.

I have checked also with Pension Search through the .gov website.

I hope you can help me with this?

Many thanks

It's possible that Arval didn't have a pension scheme at all; there was no requirement to do so in the 1980s. Even if it did have one, you may not have been eligible (too young, salary not high enough or other possible 'disqualifiers').

If Arval did have a scheme and you were a member, you may well have received a refund of your own personal contributions at the time you left, for the reason explained by Silvertabby. If you did get a refund, it would almost certainly have been automatic - you wouldn't have needed to ask for it. It is possible any refund was simply lumped in with your final leaving pay packet, and because the contributions you paid will have been reduced by deductions for tax/NI before being refunded, it would have been easy to overlook them. If the scheme was non-contributory (i.e. the employer paid all the costs), then no refund would have been due.
 
Building societies normally did have pension schemes for their employees long before it became mandatory to do so. In April 1988, it became possible for the first time for employees to choose not to join their employer's pension scheme (until that date, an employer could make scheme membership a condition of employment). It sounds as if that's possible here in respect of your Leeds employment.

Given the dates, it is highly likely these were final salary schemes which were 'contracted out' of the State additional pension, which opens the way for you to try another source of checking. Go to https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI and ask for your full history from age 16 until now. To see why that could help, have a look at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6267734/is-there-a-really-detailed-online-method-to-check-nics#latest (sorry, it's a long thread!).

xylophone

Have you been a member of a pension scheme/schemes since 1992?

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

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

Is a COPE shown?

amandahc

Silvertabby said:

If you left Arval in March 1988 you would have had less than the 5 years service you needed (at that time) to qualify for actual pension rights.  Depending on the scheme rules, you may have been offered the choice of a transfer to another scheme or a refund of your own contributions.  Can you remember receiving a lump sum payment after you left?

That's really helpful thanks. I might of had a lump sum but being 19 at the time probably spent it 🙃 

Silvertabby

amandahc said:

Silvertabby said:

If you left Arval in March 1988 you would have had less than the 5 years service you needed (at that time) to qualify for actual pension rights.  Depending on the scheme rules, you may have been offered the choice of a transfer to another scheme or a refund of your own contributions.  Can you remember receiving a lump sum payment after you left?

That's really helpful thanks. I might of had a lump sum but being 19 at the time probably spent it 🙃 

I received a cheque for £80-odd within a couple of days of resigning/leaving my company's DB scheme.

I knew nothing about pensions back then, so was thrilled to bits with my windfall.  £80 was lot of money to a teenager in the 1970s!

Most of it went on the things I needed/wanted for my new life in the WRAF, from a decent suitcase to new knickers.

jsinc

Marcon said:

...Go to https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI and ask for your full history from age 16 until now. To see why that could help, have a look at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6267734/is-there-a-really-detailed-online-method-to-check-nics#latest (sorry, it's a long thread!).

Thanks. Had no idea that request option existed.

jsinc

Received info about a month after submitting online form for full history from age 16.

Only a 2 page (4 sides) employment schedule.

Nothing on bank accounts and interest, or pension scheme memberships.

Marcon

jsinc said:

Received info about a month after submitting online form for full history from age 16.

Only a 2 page (4 sides) employment schedule.

Nothing on bank accounts and interest, or pension scheme memberships.

You wouldn't expect to see anything on bank accounts and interest (not something DWP or HMRC would hold), but I'd expect to see much more than 4 sides. Could you post the first page (with all identifiers redacted) or - even better - all four sides so we can see exactly what you got?

jsinc

Marcon said:

You wouldn't expect to see anything on bank accounts and interest (not something DWP or HMRC would hold), but I'd expect to see much more than 4 sides. Could you post the first page (with all identifiers redacted) or - even better - all four sides so we can see exactly what you got?

I can't really post any pages without also posting personal info, which I'd prefer not to do. But no worries, think I'm on top of my finances and history - was more interested in what they held and having my records confirmed.

It was a SAR for personal info and includes 2-4 lines for every year since mid 90s (source of income or credit type, Earnings, Tax paid, NI paid, NI credits).

Just not what I was expecting, esp in the context of now wondering what level of detail/what else others have over 100s of pages (there was a reference in the thread you linked to "details of your bank accounts and interest paid").