Pension Issue

Treasurehunter_2

Thanks for your reply. I have been given conflicting information on when I will receive payment. Rather than assume, I relied on information provided by the administrators. Of course a pension is a complicated product. It is also a regulated one. I have struggled to get simple confirmation of amounts due and proposed payment dates which I would have expected to be the minimum standard of information necessary.

dunstonh

I have been given conflicting information on when I will receive payment.

They are probably unsure. Unfortunately, workflows can often be unpredictable. They may believe they can meet a deadline, but an issue can arise and cause delays. Or they suddenly receive an unexpected influx of work. This means workflows must be adjusted accordingly.

I have struggled to get simple confirmation of amounts due and proposed payment dates which I would have expected to be the minimum standard of information necessary.

Are you micromanaging this excessively? From your posts, it appears you have not yet reached your chosen retirement age. As a defined benefit scheme, the amounts should already be confirmed in the retirement pack (along with the forms for bank details etc).

Marcon

It’s time critical for me in that if the administrators fail to meet the payment date they originally advised, it will cause issues for me. As retirement is approaching, this is something I need to resolve in the short term and I can’t afford to sit back until the Ombudsman picks up my case.

Yet in your first post you said this:

I am trying to retire from a former workplace pension scheme but am having serious issues with the pensions administrator. I made a complaint a couple of months ago and in the absence of a response after eight weeks and escalation involving the Ombudsman and the Pensions Regulator, I have only received a partial response.

You seem to have complained several months before anyone has done anything wrong! All you'll have done is create extra work for the administrators, thus further delaying matters. There are any number of reasons why the administrators can't give you firm information about payment - eg you may have paid AVCs and they won't know the value of those until very close to the date of payment (and may themselves be waiting to receive funds if the AVCs were handled by a third party provider); you have said that you want to take your pension at a date other than the scheme's normal retirement age, and the 'factors' which need to apply to reflect your choice of early (or possibly late) retirement may be under review and they can't proceed until the scheme actuary provides these.

Can anyone suggest any other sources of help please? I have escalated via the Trustee’s Secretary already, I have spoken to Moneyhelper and also tried to contact the HR team at my former employers.

To answer this part of your question: I'm afraid not. There is no indication that any deadlines have been breached, or any rules broken. Simply causing you inconvenience isn't going to persuade anyone to let you queue jump and get to the top of the 'to do' list, which is guaranteed to be lengthy.

Fingers crossed payment will arrive in a timely manner, but you need to plan for the possibility that it won't. Do you, for example, have a flexible ISA? if so, you can withdraw funds from that and pay them back in the same tax year without impacting on their ISA status, or your ability to make a full 'new' contribution in the same tax year.

otb666

When i retired the first 10 months were less something to do with rounding up a year. Then a year later they said they had underpaid me. I had worked out my own pension based on years of service against salary as DB pension I was expecting a quarter as 20 years service. I was frustrated and felt like one person in pension office working out figures on a dodgy calculator. The lump sun was paid in my final wages. I remember how frustrating it was as you think they have had years to prepare this but this is normal experience for many many people and they will get there in the end. Dont let it spoil your retirement.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82153090#Comment_82153090

Also the first payment can take some sorting out - I think I have seen comments on here about allowing 3 months advance notice to get a pension started and even then it may not happen on time.

Mine took 7 months - and only then after the administrator was pressurised repeatedly by the Trustees.

And if you are unlucky your administrator might be called Capita. Or Mercer ( now Aptia ) in my case.