Commercial Union pension

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Aviva workplace pension funds.

MAKINGADRAMA

I had a workplace pension with the commercial union in the 1980s this was taken over and merged in time to Aviva . i have been trying to get information out of them for 6 years emails and twitter dms have ignored or palmed off with promises that the department will contact me. does anyone know how i canforce them to talk to me or is there an ombudsmen or otherofficial that can help me?

Marcon

MAKINGADRAMA said:

I had a workplace pension with the commercial union in the 1980s this was taken over and merged in time to Aviva . i have been trying to get information out of them for 6 years emails and twitter dms have ignored or palmed off with promises that the department will contact me. does anyone know how i canforce them to talk to me or is there an ombudsmen or otherofficial that can help me?

'Workplace pension' is a bit of jargon which only came into use with the advent of auto-enrolment earlier this century.

Back in the 1980s, it almost invariably referred to an occupational pension scheme - one set up by an employer (or group of employers) for their own employees - and was run by trustees representing those employers. Does that set up ring any bells? The alternative (unlikely) would be a Group Personal Pension, but that couldn't have been in existence before 1988 because personal pensions weren't introduced until then - and very few employers used them until the 1990s at the earliest.

If you're not sure, can you remember, at least vaguely, the date when you joined/left employment with that employer and how old you were when you first joined their employment?

The reason this matters is twofold:

• checking whether you are actually likely to have a pension to 'find'
• working out how best to get you an answer. If appropriate it'll be via a formal complaint route but without knowing the type of scheme, it's not possible to point you in the right direction.

bjorn_toby_wilde

MAKINGADRAMA said:

I had a workplace pension with the commercial union in the 1980s this was taken over and merged in time to Aviva . i have been trying to get information out of them for 6 years emails and twitter dms have ignored or palmed off with promises that the department will contact me. does anyone know how i canforce them to talk to me or is there an ombudsmen or otherofficial that can help me?

It might seem a bit old school but have you tried calling them?  I have an Aviva occupational pension and they’ve always been very helpful and responsive when you talk to a real person, plus you then have a name of someone to follow up with.

dunstonh

I had a workplace pension with the commercial union in the 1980s this was taken over and merged in time to Aviva .

You probably want to avoid using the phrase workplace pension as the Aviva workplace pension team won't have access to the old CGNU plans as they operate out of different locations.

Brie

Marcon said:

MAKINGADRAMA said:

I had a workplace pension with the commercial union in the 1980s this was taken over and merged in time to Aviva . i have been trying to get information out of them for 6 years emails and twitter dms have ignored or palmed off with promises that the department will contact me. does anyone know how i canforce them to talk to me or is there an ombudsmen or otherofficial that can help me?

'Workplace pension' is a bit of jargon which only came into use with the advent of auto-enrolment earlier this century.

Back in the 1980s, it almost invariably referred to an occupational pension scheme - one set up by an employer (or group of employers) for their own employees - and was run by trustees representing those employers. Does that set up ring any bells? The alternative (unlikely) would be a Group Personal Pension, but that couldn't have been in existence before 1988 because personal pensions weren't introduced until then - and very few employers used them until the 1990s at the earliest.

If you're not sure, can you remember, at least vaguely, the date when you joined/left employment with that employer and how old you were when you first joined their employment?

The reason this matters is twofold:

• checking whether you are actually likely to have a pension to 'find'
• working out how best to get you an answer. If appropriate it'll be via a formal complaint route but without knowing the type of scheme, it's not possible to point you in the right direction.

@MAKINGADRAMA

I wondered if you were having problems spotting the replies so am just trying to highlight this to you.

MallyGirl

Split out now

xylophone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78377177/#Comment_78377177

Try an SAR?

MAKINGADRAMA

 I have trying calling and emailing Aviva but   they sem reluctant to help me ( complicated by the fact that I am in Canada and the time zones  do not   line up) In fact they have said that I can not use thier system  tofind the pension as I am not currently a resident of the UK but  provided no suggestions of how to proceed

Marcon

Please could you answer the questions I've posted above? It would go a long way to enabling people reading this thread to try and help.