Tracing old pensions

Baldeagle095

In November,out of the blue,I received a tracing letter from a company on behalf of Mercer. I completed the requested details. I recognised the company mentioned as an old employer. I had forgotten about the pension, however the tracing letter awakened my memory as I attempted to transfer a value to the LGPS scheme in 2002 with my new employer.. I was outside the transfer deadline, so the transfer did not go through.

I contacted Mercer in December who stated that it was merely a record keeping exercise.

I contacted Trustees of my old employer who advised me to contact Mercer again.

Today I contacted Mercer again via their website, filling in the requisite details such as case no, NI number,DoB etc.  I requested confirmation that they do hold my pension details. I also requested an up-to-date valuation etc. I also told them I officially retired in May 2023 and was anxious to receive the outstanding amount.

Patience is not one of my virtues! 

I realise that this could take a fair amount of time to finalise. I am in reasonable health.

Is there anything I can do to hasten the process?

flaneurs_lobster

My recent dealings with Mercer concerning getting a pension into payment took about 10 weeks, but I was already known to them. Expect a turnaround of about 2 weeks for each submission. 

Check any documents sent to you carefully, they obviously use templates but the human filled-in bits can introduce errors and/or omissions.

Re expediting the process, if there's a way I didn't find it. Doubt if my pleading emails made any difference. 

Marcon

Baldeagle095 said:

In November,out of the blue,I received a tracing letter from a company on behalf of Mercer. I completed the requested details. I recognised the company mentioned as an old employer. I had forgotten about the pension, however the tracing letter awakened my memory as I attempted to transfer a value to the LGPS scheme in 2002 with my new employer.. I was outside the transfer deadline, so the transfer did not go through.

I contacted Mercer in December who stated that it was merely a record keeping exercise.

I contacted Trustees of my old employer who advised me to contact Mercer again.

Today I contacted Mercer again via their website, filling in the requisite details such as case no, NI number,DoB etc.  I requested confirmation that they do hold my pension details. I also requested an up-to-date valuation etc. I also told them I officially retired in May 2023 and was anxious to receive the outstanding amount.

Patience is not one of my virtues! 

I realise that this could take a fair amount of time to finalise. I am in reasonable health.

Is there anything I can do to hasten the process?

The fact you retired last year is neither here nor there.  You say you'd forgotten about this pension, so it isn't as if you had factored it in to your financial planning. You failed to update your address details with the scheme's administrators (you are far from alone on that one!). You've done nothing for over 20 years and now expect Mercer to jump to it, putting you at the head of the queue...? You don't think that might be a bit unreasonable, since to do that they would have to push other people further down the list and delay responding to them.

You say you are in reasonable health, so maybe this is the moment to recognise that you are responsible for the current position and accept that patience rather than complaint is required.