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Lost Pension

UTM1
Posts: 2 Newbie

My father passed away in 2011. I was the executor of his will. He was receiving a workplace pension so I notified them of his passing so they could stop his payments. It is only now that it has recently been in the news about lost pension pots that I have tried to enquire what happened to dad’s pot. The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old. Is this correct?.Can anyone advise if there is any further course of action I can take.
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UTM1 said:My father passed away in 2011. I was the executor of his will. He was receiving a workplace pension so I notified them of his passing so they could stop his payments. It is only now that it has recently been in the news about lost pension pots that I have tried to enquire what happened to dad’s pot. The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old. Is this correct?.Can anyone advise if there is any further course of action I can take.1
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Do you know what type of pension scheme your father was in? If it was a defined benefit (often referred to as final salary) scheme then there wouldn’t have been a pot as such. On the death of the pensioner they may pay a reduced pension to a spouse but other than that there would be no further benefits.
Did you by any chance keep any of the paperwork?1 -
UTM1 said:My father passed away in 2011. I was the executor of his will. He was receiving a workplace pension so I notified them of his passing so they could stop his payments. It is only now that it has recently been in the news about lost pension pots that I have tried to enquire what happened to dad’s pot. The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old. Is this correct?.Can anyone advise if there is any further course of action I can take.
If someone dies within a fairly short time of starting to take their pension, many schemes/annuities have a 'guarantee' period, typically five years, in which case a lump sum payment is normally paid out on death. If that was the case, the payment will have been made long ago and it's no surprise that the administrators no longer have the details.
Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!1 -
If your father was already in receipt of his pension it's possible that it died with him. This is often the case with defined benefit/final salary pensions. So if his pension rightly stopped 13+ years back the administrator would normally only keep records for the length of time required by law - which I believe is 7 years since they last dealt with it. So they would have disposed of the records in 2018 or 19 depending on their data protection cycle.
The lost pension pots that have been in the news will be those that have not as yet been claimed.
Of course there's nothing the matter with going back to L&G and ask what sort of pension he might have been in.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe and Old Style Money Saving boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologise; get things done and let them howl.” Nellie McClung
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Brie said:
Of course there's nothing the matter with going back to L&G and ask what sort of pension he might have been in.UTM1 said:The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old.Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!1 -
Marcon said:Brie said:
Of course there's nothing the matter with going back to L&G and ask what sort of pension he might have been in.UTM1 said:The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old.
Alternatively if the OP tells us who the employer was and when dad retired we might be able to make an educated guess.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe and Old Style Money Saving boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologise; get things done and let them howl.” Nellie McClung
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Brie said:Marcon said:Brie said:
Of course there's nothing the matter with going back to L&G and ask what sort of pension he might have been in.UTM1 said:The scheme is now administered by Legal and General but they say they have no records of my father. They say the previous administrator had no obligation to keep any records more than 7 years old.
Alternatively if the OP tells us who the employer was and when dad retired we might be able to make an educated guess.Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!1 -
He worked at British Steel as a Bricklayer.He retired early circa 1996/7. Unfortunately I haven’t kept any paperwork0
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Up to 2012 the British Steel Pension Scheme was a final salary scheme - ie defined benefit.1
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UTM1 said:He worked at British Steel as a Bricklayer.He retired early circa 1996/7. Unfortunately I haven’t kept any paperwork
Once out of the guarantee period, any further payments could only be made to qualifying survivors. ie, spouse and/ or eligible children*.
* Eligible children usually being those under age 18, or 23 if still in full time education. Or, exceptionally, a child of any age who remains financially dependent on the pensioner due to a serious and permanent disability.
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