Missing pension contributions - former Employer

Mother_Board

hello looking for advice

I worked for an employer (2024-2025). My pension contributions were taken directly at source monthly from salary.

recently I contacted the pension provider to request annual statement and info about partial retirement. The pension provider said there was no record of any contributions for the 14 months working for the former employer and my pension comtributions stopped before I worked with this employer. I was advised to complete a form to send to former employer payroll with my unique pension ID. The employer has not engaged or even acknowledged my letter, nor has payroll/pension team. I raised a ticket.

I contacted the pension ombudsman (TPO) who said they couldn’t investigate due to pending ET and closed my complaint.

I called TPO to explain the missing pension was not part of legal action as I discovered that my pension contributions after ET was accepted by court.

My question, is there anything I can do to escalate or recover my missing pension (£12-£13k of contributions approx). TPO must investigate to support recovery of pension.

Thank you

flaneurs_lobster

I contacted the pension ombudsman (TPO) who said they couldn’t investigate due to pending ET and closed my complaint.

Sorry, what's "ET"?

Mother_Board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128135#Comment_82128135

employment tribunal

molerat

What do your legal representatives for the ET say about it ? Surely your first port of call.

Mother_Board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128310#Comment_82128310

I thought I made it clear the ET does not include the missing pension contributions. I hope someone will be able to answer the question about the specifics of the pension question.

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128340#Comment_82128340

The ET should be dealing with this and has priority over the ombudsman or any other route.

The ET claim should be amended.

Marcon

Your use of the term 'partial retirement' suggests this might be a defined benefit scheme - is that the case?

Mother_Board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128398#Comment_82128398

yes, that’s correct.

Marcon

Thank you for clarifying it's a DB scheme.

The pension provider said there was no record of any contributions for the 14 months working for the former employer and my pension comtributions stopped before I worked with this employer.

This suggests it might be a public sector pension scheme and you've got at least one previous period of membership. If so, you are likely to have a total period of scheme membership of at least two years (is that correct?), which would give you the right to a deferred pension in the scheme.

The employer has not engaged or even acknowledged my letter, nor has payroll/pension team. I raised a ticket.

Did you raise the ticket because you didn't get a response, or not get a response after raising it? How long ago did you raise it?

If the answer is along the lines of 'many weeks ago'(!), then you might want to make a formal complaint using your scheme's own Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure. The Pensions Ombudsman won't take your case until you've been through IDRP. The IDRP is scheme-specific and you can normally download from your scheme's website or request a copy from those administering the scheme. Given this is pretty recent employment you presumably have payslips showing the deductions made from your salary, so make sure you include at least one of those.

Once you've exhausted IDRP, then you have the right to go the Pensions Ombudsman - and I would expect them to accept your case provided it is crystal clear that it doesn't form part of your ET proceedings.

Mother_Board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128466#Comment_82128466

thank you for responding. Yes it is a public sector pension scheme - 5 years of continuous service and previous 4 years reckonable service. The employer has not acknowledged or responded - emailed HR, Head of workforce and data protection. I subsequently emailed the payroll helpline with the form I was advised to send by pension scheme. This has been some weeks/months of attempting to getting any response.

Before I left, I thankfully downloaded all my payslips, although HMRC take statements also prove employment (proving the pension contributions) - it appears the employer deleted my service record.

Marcon

Before I left, I thankfully downloaded all my payslips, although HMRC take statements also prove employment (proving the pension contributions) - it appears the employer deleted my service record.

If you have proof of your contributions (and you obviously do) then it may not be speedy, but the matter will get resolved and you'll get the pensionable service credit to which you are entitled. Simply going through the IDRP might well resolve the issue - it'll be difficult for the employer to claim you weren't a member during your period of employment if they were deducting contributions from your pay.

Technically IDRP can only be used where a complaint is against the trustees/managers of a scheme, so I'd go for the approach that the contributions were correctly deducted but not correctly recorded in the scheme's records, which should do the trick. To cover all bases, you could also make a formal complaint to your former employer to prove to the Pensions Ombudsman that you've exhausted all complaint avenues open to you.