Civil service pension trivial communation

honestguy_2

Hi im very new to this but need advice.  I was employed by civil service for a number of years in 80's till early 90's.  In October 2023 I enquired about what my pension would be when I turned 55 in January 2024.  I got a reply in January 2024 with figures.  Having looked at the figures the pension I would receive was minimal, so as the pot was under 30k I wrote to them in march asking if I could take trivial communation.  I heard nothing so rang them in June, they said they never received letter but would send me form to apply for it which we received and sent back a few days later.  After 3 weeks i hadn't heard anything so rang again, again they said they hadn't received the form but it might be in system, after another 2 weeks I rang back and they still hadn't received it.  This time a helpful girl give me an email to send form which I did.  I got a reply saying they had received it and everything was in order. After ringing every week and been told It would be sorted soon in November 2024 I was shocked to receive an email saying because of the scheme i was in, i wasn't eligible for trivial communation till I was 60 but I could take the pension with figures quoted in January 2024.  At no time was I told this and in fact when I'd asked at the start of process was told I was eligible! So why or when did this change?  What if anything can I do? Thank you

Dazed_and_C0nfused

honestguy_2 said:

Hi im very new to this but need advice.  I was employed by civil service for a number of years in 80's till early 90's.  In October 2023 I enquired about what my pension would be when I turned 55 in January 2024.  I got a reply in January 2024 with figures.  Having looked at the figures the pension I would receive was minimal, so as the pot was under 30k I wrote to them in march asking if I could take trivial communation.  I heard nothing so rang them in June, they said they never received letter but would send me form to apply for it which we received and sent back a few days later.  After 3 weeks i hadn't heard anything so rang again, again they said they hadn't received the form but it might be in system, after another 2 weeks I rang back and they still hadn't received it.  This time a helpful girl give me an email to send form which I did.  I got a reply saying they had received it and everything was in order. After ringing every week and been told It would be sorted soon in November 2024 I was shocked to receive an email saying because of the scheme i was in, i wasn't eligible for trivial communation till I was 60 but I could take the pension with figures quoted in January 2024.  At no time was I told this and in fact when I'd asked at the start of process was told I was eligible! So why or when did this change?  What if anything can I do? Thank you

Have another think about whether giving up a guaranteed pension for the rest of your life, with unlimited inflation, is a sensible move 🤔

QrizB

The UK civil service pension is a Defined Benefit scheme. There is no pot.

What's the value of this pension? How much is it expected to pay our at pension age?

Silvertabby

Despite your name, are you actually female?  Because a pension with GMP can't be trivially commuted before GMP age (still 60 for women, 65 for men).

Plus is this your only pension (other than the State pension) ?  If not, the £30K maximum notional value applies to the total of ALL your pensions, so that may rule you out of taking a triv comm at any time.

honestguy_2

Thanks for your replies its my wife's pension...when she's 66 its a lump sum of £2138 and £52 a month. Dazed and Qrizb i understand what your saying but at this time the lump sum could pay off mortgage thus give us 6 years mortgage free, i know there's no pot as such but there's a cetv value..trivial commutation i think is different because the value of pension is under £30000!  Silvertabby im not sure about that....because the civil service pension told her when shes 60 she can get it?  Again thank you for your replies the main grievance she has is at no time over the year was she told she wasn't entitled to trivial commutation and the lies they told her about not receiving mail and email!  

Silvertabby

As long as this is your wife's only pension (other than the State pension) then she should (as long as the rules don't change!) be able to take a trivial commutation when she is 60.

The reason for the age limitation is that pensions that include an element of GMP (ie, pensions accrued between 1978 and 1997) can't be taken as a trivial commutation before GMP age, which is still 60 for women, 65 for men.  This is an HMRC ruling and can't be overidden.

I can only assume that the helpful girl unfortunately made a mistake - it happens - by missing the GMP and thus the age restriction.  You may, of course, express your grievances to CSP - but, whatever the result,  I'm afraid they won't be able to change the payment date.

FIREDreamer

honestguy_2 said:

Thanks for your replies it’s my wife's pension...when she's 66 it’s a lump sum of £2138 and £52 a month. Dazed and Qrizb i understand what your saying but at this time the lump sum could pay off mortgage thus give us 6 years mortgage free, i know there's no pot as such but there's a cetv value..trivial commutation i think is different because the value of pension is under £30000!  Silvertabby im not sure about that....because the civil service pension told her when shes 60 she can get it?  Again thank you for your replies the main grievance she has is at no time over the year was she told she wasn't entitled to trivial commutation and the lies they told her about not receiving mail and email!  

Working for quite a few years 80’s to 90’s should give a much bigger pension than £600 a year.

Are these the values on her deferred statement when she left in the 1990’s?

xylophone

The OP was in what is now known as Classic between around 1986 -1995?

Presumably full time?

https://jsspensions.nerc.ac.uk/docs/guides/classic-scheme-guide-september-2017.pdf

Like Firedreamer I am surprised at the value cited.

Seems unlikely that CETV would be under £30,000 much less £10,000?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/pensions/pension-withdrawals/small-pensions

https://techzone.abrdn.com/public/pensions/Guide-triviality-small-pots

https://techzone.abrdn.com/public/pensions/Tech-guide-guaranteed-min-pen

swindiff

5 years service in todays money at minimum wage would be worth about £2700 a year or £225/month.  So unless it was much less service or part time I don't see how the monthly pension could be so low?

Silvertabby

The figures quoted were as at 2024.  These would have reflected the early payment reduction (5 years) but still look low for full time service.

OP - was your wife part time? Or was she on a very low salary (no minimum wage back then).