This really is just a placeholder until I get hold of the full letter tomorrow but any advice is appreciated as with only being 30(ish) I have no experience with pensions

My father in law has been receiving letter for approximately 8 years or more stating he has approximately 38,000 in a pension

He is currently 63 and has been waiting to pull part of this out towards a new caravan

Today he has received a letter "politely" advising him that there has been an administration error and that his pension was converted into an annuity 8 years ago and therefore there is nothing in his pension pot and that they hope that "this will not cause him any stress"

He has checked and apparently he has been receiving £10 a week/month (wasn't too clear on the phone) but he can't remember ever signing up to this

I will get hold of the letter tomorrow hopefully and be able to give more story but he also has yearly statements for the last 8 years stating this money was waiting for him and is obviously distraught

Any advice?

Hi labrat.

I don't think we can advise until we see the letter.

Please post up as much anonymised detail as you can and we'll do our best.

HB

Thanks honeybee I will do asap

read upload

please find attached the documents, i believe i have removed all the relevant data

sorry they are not the best images but uploading from work means i have to do it when they're not looking

pension.pdf

Thank you for that.

Assuming the plan numbers are the same in both sets of correspondence, that seems to set out their position. Has FiL been receiving £500 plus a month with 3% increases? I see it also pays a dependant's pension, presumably a spouse?

HB

Thank you for that.

 

 

Assuming the plan numbers are the same in both sets of correspondence, that seems to set out their position. Has FiL been receiving £500 plus a month with 3% increases? I see it also pays a dependant's pension, presumably a spouse?

 

 

HB

i would assume the defendant is indeed his wife

the £550 is apparently yearly not monthly

as for the 3% increase he has no idea as he has never had any sort of statement about this annuity - only statments saying his total pension pot value

he also has no memory of agreeing to an annuity, and although it suggests a tax free payment on the letter he is also fairly certain he has not had one

i know it sounds like closing the door after the horse has bolted but is it worth doing a SAR or whatever the GDPR equivalent is to get the documents where he agreed to this?

there is an exactly matching case in todays Daily Mail financial section.

If the policy holder takes out any amount as cash for whatever reason the rest of the pot is converted to an annuity automatically.

back in 2010 this would have been the only legal way of taking cash out without penalty or paying tax so it looks as though there is nothing that can be done as long as he has been getting the pension each month/year.

Advice at the time would have been to either pay tax on the withdrawn money or transfer the balance to another scheme but at the time the pension co would have the whip hand and could have made that very difficult until after april 2010

When exactly did FIL take a cash amount of the pot as he mght have recourse to comaplin about incorrect financial advice/actions is after the pension reform start but not leave much room for change now as it is a bit late.

Most likely get a small top up or compensation if things go his way.

If before april 2010 then he will get nowhere.

Thank you for that.

 

 

Assuming the plan numbers are the same in both sets of correspondence, that seems to set out their position. Has FiL been receiving £500 plus a month with 3% increases? I see it also pays a dependant's pension, presumably a spouse?

 

 

HB

It was Gross £559 a year HB so about £37 a month after 20% income tax deduction when it started in 2011. With 3% annual increases now around £43 a month after tax.

Your could certainly do a SAR labrat and get copies of his instructions in 2010, assuming they exist. I'd guess he did give instructions even if he doesn't remember it or didn't understand what he was instructing.

Do you have his bank statements? Can you check he has actually been receiving the pension since January 2011?

Apologies, I meant to say yearly and not monthly.

HB

there is an exactly matching case in todays Daily Mail financial section.

If the policy holder takes out any amount as cash for whatever reason the rest of the pot is converted to an annuity automatically.

 

back in 2010 this would have been the only legal way of taking cash out without penalty or paying tax so it looks as though there is nothing that can be done as long as he has been getting the pension each month/year.

 

Advice at the time would have been to either pay tax on the withdrawn money or transfer the balance to another scheme but at the time the pension co would have the whip hand and could have made that very difficult until after april 2010

 

When exactly did FIL take a cash amount of the pot as he mght have recourse to comaplin about incorrect financial advice/actions is after the pension reform start but not leave much room for change now as it is a bit late.

 

Most likely get a small top up or compensation if things go his way.

If before april 2010 then he will get nowhere.

going off the letter it was done december 2010 so will chase this thank you

cant seem to edit so sorry for double post

just checked down pension wise and apparently he should have been put on an enhanced pension with being diabetic

is this also worth chasing?

It could be worth asking about once you know what FiL has received from them.

HB

yes,

try and get the info as they should have offered him a transfer of balance if they didnt want to keep the rest of the pot as a pot.

By then the law had changed and they couldnt force people to take an annuity in that way.

get what you can and then go to the PAS and eventualy the Pensions Ombudsman if the PAS think it has legs.

As 8 years of paying out a pension have passed it would be unusual (but it does happen) to get an order that forced them to hand over a pot of money now but getting an enhanced payout backdated is easily doable

Will update as I can

I only see FIL once a week so may take a while