Took Maternity Leave and told I'm not entitled to company pension

foursunsp

I'm approaching retirement age and thought I ought to check all pensions I may be entitled to, and accumulated during my working life. I would appreciate any thoughts on whether this is worth pursuing as feel I have been penalised, by one of the world's most successful company's, for taking maternity leave. Way back in 1986, I worked for BP, in London. After 4 years and 11 months of full time employment with BP, I took maternity leave to have our first child, who was born 3 months later. BP wrote to me to confirm whether or not I was returning to work, at which point I decided to look after our child as a full-time mother, and replied that I would not be returning. What I did not realise at the time was that as I had taken maternity leave 1 month before serving a full 5 years, I was not entitled to the non-contributory pension fund I had built up whilst there. I was put on a state pension scheme, backdated to the day I joined. My query with their pension trustees was why, as my P45 shows my leave date as after the 5 year term by 3 months, I was not entitled to the BP Pension I thought I had due to me, as it seemed rather discriminatory and was not made clear in the letter sent to me asking whether I was returning. Their reply was that, at the time, I had been put on a state pension scheme for the 4 years and 11 months, instead. I requested that they send me a copy of my contract, which would show that maternity leave did not count as being an employee, which they couldn't find. It's been left at that and I'm now wondering how to pursue it further, as feel it is worth doing so, no matter the outcome. I have much of the paperwork on file but not my initial contract, which would have been drawn up in August 1981, when I was 18 years old. Any advice gratefully received.  

Silvertabby

Maternity leave aside, before April 1988 everyone had to accrue at least 5 years pensionable service in order to qualify for actual pension rights.  This applied to all defined benefit (final salary) pensions, not just BP.

As you didn't have any contributions to refund, BP pensions just put you back into SERPS (the additional State pension scheme).  

So, the question is should your 4 months maternity leave be classed as pensionable service?  It's unlikely that your original contract would have gone into so much detail, so don't fret about not being able to find it.  

However, regardless of whether or not you received maternity pay for this period, it is likely that the scheme rules dictated that as you had confirmed that you would not be returning to work after your maternity leave, your official last day of service would have been the 4 year 11 month point.  

foursunsp

Thanks very much for your time in answering. Appreciate your advice although I felt I've been dealt an unfair hand, as it was maternity leave rather than resignation, that sealed my pension fate. 

JoeCrystal

I vaguely recall that maternity leave relating to DB pension schemes is legally required to be pensionable via the Social Security Act 1989. Still, it was only paid, and unpaid maternity leave was not pensionable. Since you left before 1989, I fear it would be based on the Trust Deed & Rules at the time.. It won't be on your contract since all rules would be on the Trust Deeds and Rules. I am afraid it was a different time back then.

Indeed, I remember coming across one scheme rule. If the woman did not return from maternity leave, the pensionable service would end at the start of the maternity leave instead of the actual date of leaving employment.

Brie

foursunsp said:

Thanks very much for your time in answering. Appreciate your advice although I felt I've been dealt an unfair hand, as it was maternity leave rather than resignation, that sealed my pension fate. 

Dare I say it?  Of course you were dealt an unfair hand, you're a woman!  I like to think that things have improved, and yes some of them have but not enough quite yet. 

I know that a while later some fairer companies went back and reviewed their policies and retrospectively "corrected" such anomalies.  John Lewis springs to mind.  But I doubt you, me and all the women in the UK could manage to get most of big business to recognise how wrong things were.  More likely say "oh well, that's the way business worked in those days".

Marcon

foursunsp said:

Thanks very much for your time in answering. Appreciate your advice although I felt I've been dealt an unfair hand, as it was maternity leave rather than resignation, that sealed my pension fate. 

I appreciate that this situation grates, but both pensions and maternity leave were very different in the 1908s. Sometimes it's hard to remember just how different.

There was no requirement for an employer to highlight the pension issue when asking if you were returning to work, so I'm afraid that's a non-starter.

Maternity leave provisions at the time were anything but consistent and varied from one employer to the next. Someone who employed you in the 1980s would have no legitimate reason to keep a copy of your contract for nearly four decades - it would be a breach of data protection legislation had they done so.

You could ask for a copy of the scheme's Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure and argue that you should be allowed to use the IDRP because you believe you should be classed as 'someone with an interest in the scheme', but given you are way out of time to go to the Pensions Ombudsman, it's hard to see where this would go if the trustee continued to say no.

One final thought: are you sure you joined the scheme at the same time your employment with BP started? For many years it was common to have minimum joining ages and/minimum periods of service before joining, and some schemes only put new hires into a scheme on a particular date (1 January, next quarter day or whatever). Any of these could be a reason why your P45 and period of scheme membership seemed to paint different pictures - but as SilverTabby has said, it's likely that once you said you weren't returning, your last day of service would have been short of the 5 year mark.

JoeCrystal

Marcon said:

foursunsp said:

Thanks very much for your time in answering. Appreciate your advice although I felt I've been dealt an unfair hand, as it was maternity leave rather than resignation, that sealed my pension fate. 

I appreciate that this situation grates, but both pensions and maternity leave were very different in the 1908s. Sometimes it's hard to remember just how different.

  Indeed, they just introduced Old Age Pensions in 1908; why, you need to live in the country for at least twenty years, at least threescore and ten, and of c, good moral character and other tests like you didn't claim charity in the past and so on. Of course, the application will be sent to a committee of nine people (at least two need to be women) who will judge if such persons are indeed deserving. Even so, the maximum is 5/- per week, which get reduced based on other earnings / incomes....

  I think you mean 1980s there. 

DRS1

When did you leave the pension scheme/start maternity leave?  Was it 1986 or 1990/1?  I ask because the 5 year requirement changed to 2 years in 1988.

Marcon

DRS1 said:

When did you leave the pension scheme/start maternity leave?  Was it 1986 or 1990/1?  I ask because the 5 year requirement changed to 2 years in 1988.

Answer is contained in the original post:

foursunsp said:

 I have much of the paperwork on file but not my initial contract, which would have been drawn up in August 1981, when I was 18 years old. Any advice gratefully received.  

DRS1

Marcon said:

DRS1 said:

When did you leave the pension scheme/start maternity leave?  Was it 1986 or 1990/1?  I ask because the 5 year requirement changed to 2 years in 1988.

Answer is contained in the original post:

foursunsp said:

 I have much of the paperwork on file but not my initial contract, which would have been drawn up in August 1981, when I was 18 years old. Any advice gratefully received.  

Ah yes.  I just saw 1986 and 4 years 11 months .  It pays to read to the end.

Hoenir

foursunsp said:

 I requested that they send me a copy of my contract, which would show that maternity leave did not count as being an employee, 

Unlikely your employment contract would go into such minute detail. The Pension Scheme rules would have defined eligibility. Impossible to look back at policies then through the lens of today.