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Finding old pensions - surely NI should suffice?
I know this topic has been discussed at length… but there are definitely pensions I cannot trace because the old employer is not signed up to any of the trace schemes. I have got all the information - employers and dates I worked there and have used .Gov, Gretel, Pension Lab etc etc but to no avail. I have contacted one employer who i worked for for 8 years and they have no record of it either.
Why is there not a simple process where you can search by your NI number? it's unique to each individual and surely this would be easier for everyone, how can we make this happen?
so frustrated :(
Comments
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How old are the pensions?
Back in the day you often had to have worked for a number of years before you could join, or they were only available to the management, or they paid your contributions back with your final pay packet.
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…or you had to be over a certain age
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Why is there not a simple process where you can search by your NI number? it's unique to each individual and surely this would be easier for everyone, how can we make this happen?
The Pensions Dashboard offers a potential route for further investigation, but this is currently in beta test, and does rely on pension providers' participation.
Surprisingly, NI numbers are not unique - some people are issued with temporary numbers, and I have heard (but never had confirmed) that the same number has been issued to multiple people on odd occasions in error.
Any responsible data-matching exercise would rely on multiple fields matching to raise the level of certainty that the data is a match - so an NI alone would not be sufficient despite its apparent uniqueness.
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Have you tried the government's beta launch of its official Pension Dashboard hosted by Moneyhelper? The link is embedded in @kippo1's opening post
A question for the moderators, is there someway the beta phase testing of the Moneyhelper Pensions Dashboard can be made a prominent 'sticky' on this forum board?
A number of us participated and registered as a result of @kippo1's invitation ( albeit with varying outcomes) but I would have thought MSE itself should be at the forefront in encouraging participation.
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A question for the moderators, is there someway the beta phase testing of the Moneyhelper Pensions Dashboard can be made a prominent 'sticky' on this forum board?
Wouldn't it be an even better idea to feature it in the weekly email? Testers in bulk are needed and there will be very many people receiving that email who don't have pensions first and centre in their everyday thinking, but if nudged…
Why is there not a simple process where you can search by your NI number? it's unique to each individual and surely this would be easier for everyone, how can we make this happen?
OP has provided a splendid example of just how few people have a clue that planning/work on this massive project has been ongoing for over a decade, which rather endorses my point!
Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!2 -
Signing up for the main government tracing scheme wasn't some sort of option, so if your employer of 8 years duration had a pension scheme (are you sure they did - and if so, did you join it?), those responsible for administering the scheme will have had to ensure the details were registered. If you'd like to post the name of the employer and the years during which you were employed, someone here may be able to help.
Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!1 -
…or male!
Crucially, you needed to have a minimum period of 'qualifying service' (pension scheme membership, not just employment) before you would have the right to a 'deferred' pension when you left that employment. In the absence of any 'better' (shorter) periods in the scheme's own rules:
- two years for leavers on or after 6 April 1988*
- five years for leavers on or after 1 January 1986
- five years for leavers on or after 6 April 1975, but only if they were aged at least 26.
Prior to that, anyone leaving before reaching a scheme's Normal Retirement Age had no right to a deferred pension - just a return of any personal contributions but nothing from the employer.
*unless you had transferred in benefits from a personal pension, in which case there was no minimum period of qualifying service
Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!2 -
sadly I think there are many like me who after months of chasing the rabbit down the hole just give up - hence why there is about 30billion quid in unallocated pensions floating around with no claimers. I just do not understand why the powers that be cannot sort it out, especially when we are in the financial crisis that we are these days - and it does not look much better in the near future either.
Your NI number IS unique to you, - there may be a rare occasion it's not, but it should work for everyone, like a fingerprint.
- Lifelong record: The HMRC assigns you one number that stays the same. It tracks your tax and National Insurance contributions.
- Format: Each code has two letters, six numbers, and a final letter suffix
- Errors and Duplicates: While the system intends for every person to have a distinct code, historical administrative issues or rare system errors have occasionally led to duplicate numbers being issued. HMRC fixes these overlaps when found.
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can your old employer not tell you what pension scheme they were using so that you can contact them direct?
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Regarding the NI number question, check out this little video (warning: very annoying background music!):
https://www.pensionsdashboardsprogramme.org.uk/publications/videos/pasa-data-matching-guidanceDefinitely try the Pensions Dashboard beta though, as others have suggested.
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