Missing Civil Service pension

Lollypop2822

Can anyone help please with a missing civil service pension that has disappeared into thin air? i Worked from 1993 to 2000 for the Met Police Civil staff. After I left I worked for a local authority and believed that my pension had been transferred over. A few years ago I attempted to get a break down of my future pension and nobody can find it. My latest lead was to contact HMRC  and speak to NISPI (National Insurance Services to Pensions Industry) with a view to getting a physical copy of my proof of contracted out employment history. So far I have spent hours on the phone waiting to be answered and have not managed to make contact. My question is a) Does anyone have an email address for NISPI (PT Operations)? b) Anyone know what i can do next ? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Marcon

Lollypop2822 said:

Can anyone help please with a missing civil service pension that has disappeared into thin air? i Worked from 1993 to 2000 for the Met Police Civil staff. After I left I worked for a local authority and believed that my pension had been transferred over. A few years ago I attempted to get a break down of my future pension and nobody can find it. My latest lead was to contact HMRC  and speak to NISPI (National Insurance Services to Pensions Industry) with a view to getting a physical copy of my proof of contracted out employment history. So far I have spent hours on the phone waiting to be answered and have not managed to make contact. My question is a) Does anyone have an email address for NISPI (PT Operations)? b) Anyone know what i can do next ? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Yes. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6267734/is-there-a-really-detailed-online-method-to-check-nics/p1 and look at my post of 15 May 2021.

I'm afraid it's a long post and in the absence of 'post numbers' I can't sign you to the more helpful/explanatory bits of it, but my post of 3 June 2021 (which comes at about the top of page 3 of that thread) will explain why it's such a useful approach.

Silvertabby

Are you sure that your Met Police pension was with the Civil Service?  Civilian police staff pensions are usually LGPS, not necessarily the same Local Authority that you moved to.

Kynthia

Silvertabby said:

Are you sure that your Met Police pension was with the Civil Service?  Civilian police staff pensions are usually LGPS, not necessarily the same Local Authority that you moved to.

They definitely are with the civil service pension scheme. My husband joined the Classic scheme in the 90s, and I started in the Premium scheme. 

Kynthia

Lollypop2822 said:

Can anyone help please with a missing civil service pension that has disappeared into thin air? i Worked from 1993 to 2000 for the Met Police Civil staff. After I left I worked for a local authority and believed that my pension had been transferred over. A few years ago I attempted to get a break down of my future pension and nobody can find it. My latest lead was to contact HMRC  and speak to NISPI (National Insurance Services to Pensions Industry) with a view to getting a physical copy of my proof of contracted out employment history. So far I have spent hours on the phone waiting to be answered and have not managed to make contact. My question is a) Does anyone have an email address for NISPI (PT Operations)? b) Anyone know what i can do next ? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Do you have any paperwork from your civil service pension, such as a calculation of your final benefits when you left? Any transfer paperwork or any annual benefit statements showing a transfer in or start date earlier than your actual start date?

Do you have any payslips or P60s showing you were definitely a member of the civil service pension scheme and making contributions as sometimes people forget they opted out? Do you ever recall getting annual benefit statements showing your pension each year?

How old were you when you joined the Met, and were you full time and permanent? Did you start on a temporary contract?

Have you asked MyCSP to contact the Met pensions team to review their records to see if they can find what benefits you accrued and whether they have records of a transfer.

Lollypop2822

Thank you all so much for your helpful advice ,especially Marcon .SAR completed,hopefully it will shed light if my pension was contracted out . What started off as a very frustrating morning ,may well bear fruit. I will update you of any results

Lollypop2822

Sorry Kynthia,just seen your post, all paperwork has been mislaid and I dont remember opting out. I was 24 when I joined the Met and was employed on a full time basis. Sadly the Met Pensions team are unable to assist at this moment. Just hoping i can sort out this puzzle 

xylophone

Are you sure that your Met Police pension was with the Civil Service?  Civilian police staff pensions are usually LGPS, not necessarily the same Local Authority that you moved to.

I had a friend who was civilian police staff at the same period as the OP and was definitely in the CS Scheme. 

I remember this was the case  because when she retired and took her pension, as a woman who had never married, she had some sort of refund from the CS in respect of contributions to a particular part of the Scheme.

xylophone

 it will shed light if my pension was contracted out . 

If you were in the CS PS you were definitely contracted out.

The LGPS was also contracted out.

Both the above schemes remained contracted out until the inception of new state pension in 2016.

When you left the job with the police, were you given a statement of benefits on leaving the scheme?

Do you have any paperwork at all from when you joined LGPS about an application to transfer in your benefits on Club terms?

Have you been a member of any other contracted out schemes?

How high is the COPE on your state pension forecast?

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

pinnks

Kynthia said:

Silvertabby said:

Are you sure that your Met Police pension was with the Civil Service?  Civilian police staff pensions are usually LGPS, not necessarily the same Local Authority that you moved to.

They definitely are with the civil service pension scheme. My husband joined the Classic scheme in the 90s, and I started in the Premium scheme. 

I am not questioning whether or not it is the CS scheme but the changes that brought in the Premium scheme date from October 2002, which is after you ceased employment with the Met.  You too would surely be in Classic as there was no other scheme until the 2002 changes.

Kynthia

pinnks said:

Kynthia said:

Silvertabby said:

Are you sure that your Met Police pension was with the Civil Service?  Civilian police staff pensions are usually LGPS, not necessarily the same Local Authority that you moved to.

They definitely are with the civil service pension scheme. My husband joined the Classic scheme in the 90s, and I started in the Premium scheme. 

I am not questioning whether or not it is the CS scheme but the changes that brought in the Premium scheme date from October 2002, which is after you ceased employment with the Met.  You too would surely be in Classic as there was no other scheme until the 2002 changes.

I'm not the OP. I joined 2004 and left more recently after moving to Alpha.