AON Pensions

Yorky_north

I reached pension age 19 days ago. When my pension didn't arrive, I contacted AON, who informed me that they needed 14 working days to calculate it.

After the 14 days passed, I still hadn't received my pension. AON now claims they need information regarding benefits from my previous employer, which must be reimbursed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). They have known about this requirement since last August. Until this issue is resolved, my pension cannot be paid.

Given that I increased my contributions to my current employer's scheme based on the last statement forecast and will now cancel the additional payment, can I claim the tax relief I would have received if the payment had arrived as contractually expected from AON?

QrizB

Yorky_north said:

I reached pension age 19 days ago. When my pension didn't arrive, I contacted AON, who informed me that they needed 14 working days to calculate it.

When did you apply to AON for your pension?

If you wanted it paid from "pension age" (whatever age that happens to be), you should have applied for it some time beforehand.

Yorky_north said:

Given that I increased my contributions to my current employer's scheme based on the last statement forecast and will now cancel the additional payment, can I claim the tax relief I would have received if the payment had arrived as contractually expected from AON?

You can't claim tax relief on payments you haven't made.
What contract do to think you have with AON?

Yorky_north

I sent all the paperwork in August last year.

I realise that, however it is not my fault that I am missing out on the tax relief that I would be entitled to if AON had done their due diligence. 

Once I returned the forms I was asked for clarification of the WW and O which was returned with in 1 week, I have received no notification from AON since, the only contact I have had has been myself asking where is my pension.

AON are the administrators of the scheme

dunstonh

Given that I increased my contributions to my current employer's scheme based on the last statement forecast and will now cancel the additional payment, can I claim the tax relief I would have received if the payment had arrived as contractually expected from AON?

Why would delays commencing this pension have an impact on the contributions into another scheme?  

you can contribute to a pension based on your earned income.  Pension income is not earned income. So, it doesn't impact on what you can pay into the pension (caveat - if you were a very high earner it could but it not being paid could improve the situation rather than make it worse.).

After the 14 days passed, I still hadn't received my pension. AON now claims they need information regarding benefits from my previous employer, which must be reimbursed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). They have known about this requirement since last August. Until this issue is resolved, my pension cannot be paid.

what information are they after?    Is there an issue over the size of the pension commencement lump sum and hitting the limit?

Yorky_north

The idea is that I can increase the contributions to my current pensions scheme by the value of the pension that I receive, keeping my available funds the same and hopefully delay the tax man getting is hands on my money. If the government are offering to give me 40% tax relief, then I’d be a fool to refuse  (Yes, I know that in the long run this will only remove 25% of the additional contributions from tax, but it’s better than moving into the next tax bracket).  The delay is that I cannot increase payments into the current pot until I get the pension. 

The information is my 1½ % contribution to the wives, widows and orphans’ payments that I made from 1990 to 1993 which I am entitled to since I never married

QrizB

If you have savings, you could use those to support your income while you continue to make the increased pension contributions?

Or, at a push, take a personal loan - they're not quite the bargain they were before Truss, but you'll still spend less in interest than the tax saving you'll make.

Yorky_north

I agree, yes, I could afford to use savings for a couple of month, the point is why should it be down to me given that AON have known about this for 6 months.  Will I be entitled to interest on the outstanding monies, someone’s getting it!