Can I be forced to take my Pension

DRS1

Yes It is legislation but it is also scheme rules.  The OP's scheme is saying she has to take her whole pension at 60 not just the GMP.  As mentioned up above the LGPS at least would allow her to take only the GMP at 60 and the excess at NRA.

I am not entirely sure what the OP has said to the administrators but perhaps she is hoping they will accept she is still employed.

BetsyRose

I have returned the form and re-iterated that I don't want my pension before the NRA, and intend to be in employment by my 60th Birthday.  Will see what the come back with. If they insist on me taking all me pension early, I will complain, if not resolved I will take it to the Pension Ombudsman on the rules not being amended for equalisation / not allowing me just the take the GMP element. 

Hoenir

DRS1 said:

Yes It is legislation but it is also scheme rules.  The OP's scheme is saying she has to take her whole pension at 60 not just the GMP.  As mentioned up above the LGPS at least would allow her to take only the GMP at 60 and the excess at NRA.

I am not entirely sure what the OP has said to the administrators but perhaps she is hoping they will accept she is still employed.

Old DB Schemes will proceed to make payment in accordance with the scheme rules. There's nothing to be gained by deferring. I started to receive one DB pension well before I finally retired and before SRA also. 

zagfles

Hoenir said:

DRS1 said:

Yes It is legislation but it is also scheme rules.  The OP's scheme is saying she has to take her whole pension at 60 not just the GMP.  As mentioned up above the LGPS at least would allow her to take only the GMP at 60 and the excess at NRA.

I am not entirely sure what the OP has said to the administrators but perhaps she is hoping they will accept she is still employed.

Old DB Schemes will proceed to make payment in accordance with the scheme rules. There's nothing to be gained by deferring. I started to receive one DB pension well before I finally retired and before SRA also. 

You clearly haven't read the thread or understood the issue. 

zagfles

DRS1 said:

Yes It is legislation but it is also scheme rules.  The OP's scheme is saying she has to take her whole pension at 60 not just the GMP.  As mentioned up above the LGPS at least would allow her to take only the GMP at 60 and the excess at NRA.

I am not entirely sure what the OP has said to the administrators but perhaps she is hoping they will accept she is still employed.

I think it's fairly usual that the whole pension has to be taken at the same time and can't be split. But worth checking. The rules round ERFs would be interesting too, if it says something like "if a member chooses to take the pension early an ERF may apply", in this case the member isn't choosing but being compelled to. So perhaps they can't impose an ERF!

Fink_Nottle

zagfles said:

It's nothing to do with the rules of the scheme, it's legislation. Which is very vague, it just says "employment" with no definition. So self employment may count, it may not. Don't know as IANAL. 

Or the OP could do voluntary work - could it be argued that unpaid employment is still a kind of employment?

However, I'm also not a lawyer, but I spent a couple of years working for a charity which was highly reliant on volunteers. They would offer anything from a couple of hours a week, up to pretty much full time, and all contributions were appreciated.

BetsyRose

Having dug around I don't think Self Employment is an option, I doubt volunteering is either. Some sort of volunteering is something I had been considering, but I don't think it will help with this.   

Will update the thread in due course on how I get on. I may lose, but think I have a case that potentially the scheme rules have not taken into account equalisation ruling.  If they are willing to scrap the ERF I will be delighted, though that maybe is too much to hope for.

Silvertabby

BetsyRose said:

Having dug around I don't think Self Employment is an option, I doubt volunteering is either. Some sort of volunteering is something I had been considering, but I don't think it will help with this.   

Will update the thread in due course on how I get on. I may lose, but think I have a case that potentially the scheme rules have not taken into account equalisation ruling.  If they are willing to scrap the ERF I will be delighted, though that maybe is too much to hope for.

I didn't say this .... but if they still insist on making payment from GMP age ...... do they have your bank details?  

BetsyRose

Not as far as I'm aware, not going to give them it either until I've explored all my options, including referral to the Pensions Ombudsman.  Who incidentally indicated I can't be forced to take my pension early via a chat bot, however I have not too much confidence in that, they also said that I need to raise a complaint with the scheme first, before formally contacting them.   I'm now waiting for the scheme to contact me again, and will take it from there.