My pension lump sum was paid out but not to me

MallyGirl

If they won't let you then maybe, once it has been reinstated, then you can transfer to another product that would let you?

susssy

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

They said the lump sum was a one off offer only at that time and to be honest I wasnt aware if i had a pension with them i was just investigating lost pensions and found this out it was around 41 years ago when i worked there

What are they offering you - a monthly income? At least that will be a useful bonus in retirement. Must have some tax free cash available though.

They said an anual payment not month;y

FIREDreamer

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

They said the lump sum was a one off offer only at that time and to be honest I wasnt aware if i had a pension with them i was just investigating lost pensions and found this out it was around 41 years ago when i worked there

What are they offering you - a monthly income? At least that will be a useful bonus in retirement. Must have some tax free cash available though.

They said an anual payment not month;y

Unusual, most pensions are paid monthly.

susssy

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

They said the lump sum was a one off offer only at that time and to be honest I wasnt aware if i had a pension with them i was just investigating lost pensions and found this out it was around 41 years ago when i worked there

What are they offering you - a monthly income? At least that will be a useful bonus in retirement. Must have some tax free cash available though.

They said an anual payment not month;y

Unusual, most pensions are paid monthly.

Yesa and i thought you could take a lump sum from age 55 onwards from a private pension

FIREDreamer

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

They said the lump sum was a one off offer only at that time and to be honest I wasnt aware if i had a pension with them i was just investigating lost pensions and found this out it was around 41 years ago when i worked there

What are they offering you - a monthly income? At least that will be a useful bonus in retirement. Must have some tax free cash available though.

They said an anual payment not month;y

Unusual, most pensions are paid monthly.

Yesa and i thought you could take a lump sum from age 55 onwards from a private pension

Maybe its something to do with GMP that cannot be commuted for cash. Perhaps at normal retirement date the non GMP can provide some PCLS. Never heard of an annual payment frequency pension - maybe its too small for a monthly payment?

redofromstart

Hi,

its all fairly speculative at the moment. I'd ask them to confirm your entitlement and any benefits in writing.

Is it a defined benefit or a defined contribution scheme?   The lump sum sounds to me like an offer to buy out benefits because they wanted to close a defined benefit scheme. Would you (and the person who shared your DOB) have been over 55 at the point the lump sum payout occurred?

I have been involved with TUPE and company takeovers and  It isn't uncommon to buy a company with a DB scheme and then go through a process to encourage the DB members to take a lump sum into another pension scheme to lose the unknown liability for the company.  It was usually a limited time opportunity and no obligation on the employer to offer it again.

the key thing for me would be to establish the type of pension you had previously, and what it was worth either in terms of total pot or in annual income. The provider should maintain that and ensure that you still got what you should have done based on the original scheme rules. Do you have any original paperwork? Roughly how much is the pot worth - 'trivial' amounts under a certain value etc.  

Shimrod

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

FIREDreamer said:

susssy said:

They said the lump sum was a one off offer only at that time and to be honest I wasnt aware if i had a pension with them i was just investigating lost pensions and found this out it was around 41 years ago when i worked there

What are they offering you - a monthly income? At least that will be a useful bonus in retirement. Must have some tax free cash available though.

They said an anual payment not month;y

Unusual, most pensions are paid monthly.

Yesa and i thought you could take a lump sum from age 55 onwards from a private pension

Maybe its something to do with GMP that cannot be commuted for cash. Perhaps at normal retirement date the non GMP can provide some PCLS. Never heard of an annual payment frequency pension - maybe its too small for a monthly payment?

That would be the normal reason - it's not uncommon for people to have small pensions of a couple of hundred pounds a year if they were in a low paid job and did not stay in it very long. 

I would guess the lump sum was probably the pension trustee offering trivial commutation of the pension to reduce administration, remove liabilities from the fund and give those pensioners an option for having what may be a small but significant lump sum which may be useful.

For the OP a trivial commutation may still be an option depending on the actual pension.

LHW99

That would be the normal reason - it's not uncommon for people to have small pensions of a couple of hundred pounds a year if they were in a low paid job and did not stay in it very long.

And in my case £6 per year. I got a small pot lump sum of something like £109 to close it down

FIREDreamer

LHW99 said:

That would be the normal reason - it's not uncommon for people to have small pensions of a couple of hundred pounds a year if they were in a low paid job and did not stay in it very long.

And in my case £6 per year. I got a small pot lump sum of something like £109 to close it down

If the £6 was index linked with a spouse pension you were robbed, but in the scheme of things hardly life changing (maybe worth £300 if it was 3 years ago, £150 now) or worth making a fuss about. 

susssy

redofromstart said:

Hi,

its all fairly speculative at the moment. I'd ask them to confirm your entitlement and any benefits in writing.

Is it a defined benefit or a defined contribution scheme?   The lump sum sounds to me like an offer to buy out benefits because they wanted to close a defined benefit scheme. Would you (and the person who shared your DOB) have been over 55 at the point the lump sum payout occurred?

I have been involved with TUPE and company takeovers and  It isn't uncommon to buy a company with a DB scheme and then go through a process to encourage the DB members to take a lump sum into another pension scheme to lose the unknown liability for the company.  It was usually a limited time opportunity and no obligation on the employer to offer it again.

the key thing for me would be to establish the type of pension you had previously, and what it was worth either in terms of total pot or in annual income. The provider should maintain that and ensure that you still got what you should have done based on the original scheme rules. Do you have any original paperwork? Roughly how much is the pot worth - 'trivial' amounts under a certain value etc.  

the payout amount was 5887.00 net and yes it was that they wanted to close the scheme but now they are saying i am not entitled to take that lump sum which I think is unfair as they made the error in giving it to the wrong person I last worked for them 41years ago and have since had various addresses and two different surnames I did not even realise i had the pension until I invstigated lost pensions.  Surely this is a data breach also