State pension - am missing a few years that was contracted out?

building

State pension - am missing a few years that was contracted out. the company i used to work for said that they were offerign some pension contribution. However on my forecast this is lower than my partner's even though my company was paying something through scottish widows at the time. It does mentino about it being contracted out at some stage. what would you recommend I do? i did ask an adviser friend of mine but he never got back to me. should i ask scottish widows? though I think they were taken over and it was such a long time ago. any advice appreciated.

CIS

In what way is your state pension lower ?, if its to do with your basic pension it has nothing to do with being contracted out whereas if it is to do with your additional pension it may be lower because, you have 1) have had lower earnings or 2)have had a higher contracted out deduction ie: your scheme is valued at a higher rate.

Plaese post again with more details HTH

dunstonh

Also contracting out with an occupational scheme can mean something different to contracting out of serps/S2P with a personal arrangement.

building

will post later...

dunstonh wrote:

Also contracting out with an occupational scheme can mean something different to contracting out of serps/S2P with a personal arrangement.

EdInvestor

Hi building

Your state pension forecast will consist of 2 (perhaps 3) bits

Basic state pension
S2P State 2nd pension (formerly SERPS)
Graduated pension (if you were working in the 1970s)

If you were contracted out for a period, then this means some of your S2P will be provided by the separate private pension your contracted out rebate money was paid into. This sounds like the Scottish Widows pension ( or part of it).

Post some details about this pension so we can look at its performance and see if it can be improved.Some of these old pensions could do with a spring-cleaning ;)What fund is it invested in for a start?

building

ok this sounds right what you are saying. could not find my forecast so will reapply. dug out some paperwork on scottish widows who seem to be part of Nat West ? dont really understand some of the paperwork yet but here we go

"our records show that your Talisman person pension plan used to be contracted out of SERPS. This means that SERPS on your retirement will be reduced.

The plan value shown is the amount that would have been paid in teh event of death on 1 September 1996 the transfer value was £3243.97 including £3025.36 protected rights. The amount actually payable on termination of the plan will depend on investment conditions and the basis of calculation then in force"

any help much appreciated.

EdInvestor wrote:

Hi building

Your state pension forecast will consist of 2 (perhaps 3) bits

Basic state pension
S2P State 2nd pension (formerly SERPS)
Graduated pension (if you were working in the 1970s)

If you were contracted out for a period, then this means some of your S2P will be provided by the separate private pension your contracted out rebate money was paid into. This sounds like the Scottish Widows pension ( or part of it).

Post some details about this pension so we can look at its performance and see if it can be improved.Some of these old pensions could do with a spring-cleaning ;)What fund is it invested in for a start?

dunstonh

dug out some paperwork on scottish widows who seem to be part of Nat West ?

Scottish Widows are owned by Lloyds TSB. However, the banking Scottish Widows is different to the "real" Scottish Widows from a product and marketing point of view so forget the link.

Ok, so we are ruling out that its not a contracted out money purchase occupational scheme then and its looking like its a protected rights personal pension

Can we just clarify that it is Scottish Widows and not Scottish Life. I can see on my list that Scot Life had a plan called Talisman. However, I can't see Scot Widows with a plan of that name.

As you were contracted out, you were exchanging benefits paid from the state for benefits paid from an insurance company. The idea back when contracting out was introduced was that an insurance company would invest the money and aim to give a higher pension than the state would give you. However, diminishing rebates and returns have made this unlikely and its more like break even now. The positive thing is that when you contract out, as from next year, the benefits can have a 25% tax free lump sum payable and do not have to be taken at state retirement age (whatever that ends up being). Contracted in benefits cannot have a tax free lump sum on them and have to wait until state pension age. There are also differences in the event of death as well.

building

all tips appreciated.

dunstonh wrote:

Scottish Widows are owned by Lloyds TSB. However, the banking Scottish Widows is different to the "real" Scottish Widows from a product and marketing point of view so forget the link.

Ok, so we are ruling out that its not a contracted out money purchase occupational scheme then and its looking like its a protected rights personal pension

Can we just clarify that it is Scottish Widows and not Scottish Life. I can see on my list that Scot Life had a plan called Talisman. However, I can't see Scot Widows with a plan of that name.

As you were contracted out, you were exchanging benefits paid from the state for benefits paid from an insurance company. The idea back when contracting out was introduced was that an insurance company would invest the money and aim to give a higher pension than the state would give you. However, diminishing rebates and returns have made this unlikely and its more like break even now. The positive thing is that when you contract out, as from next year, the benefits can have a 25% tax free lump sum payable and do not have to be taken at state retirement age (whatever that ends up being). Contracted in benefits cannot have a tax free lump sum on them and have to wait until state pension age. There are also differences in the event of death as well.