B&CE pension entitlement

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: NEST Pension being illegally witheld.

akajoe

Hi, sorry to hijack the op's thread but I couldn't find one that seemed more relevant. I had a pension with B&CE when I worked for Taylor Woodrow back in the 90's and because some of my former colleagues took the opportunity to draw a lump sum early, I thought I might do the same. I had many short stints with TW , most of which amounted to only 6 or 7 weeks but I thought it might get me a few quid back. I contacted B&CE about 3 or 4 years ago and they informed me that I needed 80 contributions to qualify and I only had 79 so didn't qualify. I asked what had happened to the money which had been contributed and they basically fobbed me off and reiterated their previous comment that I didn't qualify and basically that was the end of it. 
I was telling a friend about it recently and he said that because it had been paid in, it didn't matter about the number of contributions and I was entitled to a payment. Could anyone with a better understanding of pensions please advise. 
Thanks in advance, Joe

Marcon

akajoe said:

Hi, sorry to hijack the op's thread but I couldn't find one that seemed more relevant. I had a pension with B&CE when I worked for Taylor Woodrow back in the 90's and because some of my former colleagues took the opportunity to draw a lump sum early, I thought I might do the same. I had many short stints with TW , most of which amounted to only 6 or 7 weeks but I thought it might get me a few quid back. I contacted B&CE about 3 or 4 years ago and they informed me that I needed 80 contributions to qualify and I only had 79 so didn't qualify. I asked what had happened to the money which had been contributed and they basically fobbed me off and reiterated their previous comment that I didn't qualify and basically that was the end of it. 
I was telling a friend about it recently and he said that because it had been paid in, it didn't matter about the number of contributions and I was entitled to a payment. Could anyone with a better understanding of pensions please advise. 
Thanks in advance, Joe

Then don't let them fob you off!

I suspect the 80 contributions related to the amount needed to qualify for a tax free lump sum, but there should be some sort of benefit available if you've made 79 personal contributions. 

Ask them to explain exactly what your entitlement(s) are, and remind them of the previous conversation confirming you made 79 contributions: info@bandce.co.uk