Messy pension contributions

PawelGK

Good morning.

Could someone please advise what's the easiest way to check if my current pension pot would have been higher if my contributions were being added on time?

My employer had some delays with sending contributions last year but on top of that the pension provider had a disastrous, non working processes for nearly a year, whereby my contributions were either sitting with them, being not applied to my pot for months or applied very late. Around December time they gave me an option to escalate my complaint to the regulator but I extended giving them benefit of the doubt as they're investing in improvements and changing some ways they work (which painfully slowly seems to be the case). However, I am worrying that as a result of all the late contributions (still small amounts pending), I am now, and will be in the future, worse off.

Apart from going each month one by one and comparing value of my investment and unit prices, is there any easier way to do it? Also, is there a law around timings by which pension provider should allocate the funds to your pot from the date they got it from an employer so I can provide evidence they're in breach and acted negligently in my case?

Exodi

PawelGK

Could someone please advise what's the easiest way to check if my current pension pot would have been higher if my contributions were being added on time?

It would require a spreadsheet where you have the historical price data for your investments so you can calculate how many units would have been purchased if you purchased on a specific day.

You'd probably need to be relatively competent at excel, using vlookup and obviously there's no guarantee you would have purchased at the closing prices.

The easier way would be to look at the investment performance and track the difference between two points. E.g. if you were uninvested between November and January due to their negligence, you could argue the market increased by 5% in this timeframe so they should reimburse you that on top of your contribution.

FWIW, I don't think I've ever seen someone on these forums successfully receive reimbursement based on hypothetically missed investment returns due to late pension contributions.

PawelGK

Thanks Exodi. I should have available data for my excel works as I can see but prices at a specific data going backwards. If there's no easier way. I will probably do it, just for my conscience.

With regards to the reimbursement, that's why I asked if there's any law or regulations around the timings because if there are, I could potentially ask to be put on the value I should've been if all of the delays haven't happened. I don't want anything extra.

Marcon

FWIW, I don't think I've ever seen someone on these forums successfully receive reimbursement based on hypothetically missed investment returns due to late pension contributions.

I don't think this forum is the definitive statement of the position, given it is used by a tiny percentage of the population!

With regards to the reimbursement, that's why I asked if there's any law or regulations around the timings because if there are, I could potentially ask to be put on the value I should've been if all of the delays haven't happened. I don't want anything extra.

There certainly are and a failure to pay/credit contributions on time constitutes maladministration by your employer and/or the provider (as appropriate). The Pension Ombudsman's view is that a member should be put in the position they would have been in had the maladministration not occurred - and if the maladministration actually improved the member's position, they get the better of the two outcomes.

It's not for you to faff around trying to work out the values. You make a complaint to both your employer and the provider and ask the provider to do the calculations, indicating that if necessary you will pursue your complaint via the Pensions Ombudsman* if it isn't satisfactorily resolved.

*not the Pensions Regulator. Complaints of maladministration are for the PO to deal with.

Grumpy_chap

How much of the late contributions remains in cash (within the fund)?

If they move that to equities now, you might do well (financially) as values have fallen recently.

PawelGK

Thank you. That's very helpful Marcon.

Albermarle

OP - It could be useful to other readers to know who the pension provider is, as they may have had some kind of similar experience.

There is no problem to mention companies names on the forum.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921286#Comment_81921286

E.g. if you were uninvested between November and January due to their negligence, you could argue the market increased by 5% in this timeframe so they should reimburse you that on top of your contribution.

Most likely the pension investment will not be 100% market linked, and is probably some kind of default fund. Even so a a typical medium risk fund will have risen around 15% in the last 12 months, so some growth will have been missed out on .

FWIW, I don't think I've ever seen someone on these forums successfully receive reimbursement based on hypothetically missed investment returns due to late pension contributions.

Not sure about that, but for sure pension providers often pay out 'goodwill compensation' for foul ups, although it is usually limited to around £200 in my own experience. Maybe the pension provider will argue that if markets had been going down, then delays would have been beneficial to the OP, and they will just offer a one off/no liability payment for the inconvenience.

PawelGK

Hello. I have no problem mentioning the provider, just kept it off my OP to not making it even longer!

It's Aegon and according to my data, most contributions are up to date now (just in week of March 2025 is missing). They were relating to a period of around Apr-Oct'25 with part of it being added towards the end of the year and the rest very recently. I already have a complaint raised with them (since around September) but they just keep sending me an update on a monthly basis that "they're looking into it". At least most of my funds are now showing so I can allow them a bit more time to come up with any final statement about my complaint. The value is currently very slightly below the level of my contributions but I'm pretty sure that's mostly due to the current middle East events and I would be surprised if the value would have been higher should the missing funds were added six months ago. I am also thinking about reaching out to my payroll department because although they confirmed all contributions were already transferred to Aegon and are up to date, I would want to know what date each was sent over so I have a clear view of each party's liability.

Marcon

Have you actually made a formal complaint to Aegon? If not, now's your moment to do so. The Pensions Ombudsman expects you have to have exhausted any complaints procedure(s) open to you before their office will accept the complaint .

PawelGK

I have, thanks. Will probably consider going through ombudsman if they fail to put things right and come up with a satisfactory solution by the end of March.