Contracted out pensions scheme ( COPE)

[flook]

Just found out Im contracted out but the cope figure is only £15 a week. Will have to ring the gov number to see who the pension is with because I ain't got a clue. Not sure if they have that info.

BTW contracting out of serps was a misselling issue and you can get compensation for it.

The COPE figure is bollox, mine said £18 but when I tracked the pension down it pays me over £4.5k from when I'm 65.

Also if you have 35 years NI contributions, being contracted out doesn't actually lose you anything from your state pension

 

[flook]

website link to find a lost pension

Find pension contact details

Find the contact details for a pension provider by using the Pension Tracing Service

www.gov.uk

 

[Blue Maverick]

They reckon there £9billion unclaimed!

 

[denislawsbackheel]

The COPE figure is bollox, mine said £18 but when I tracked the pension down it pays me over £4.5k from when I'm 65.

Also if you have 35 years NI contributions, being contracted out doesn't actually lose you anything from your state pension

It did me, and anyone else contracted out who retired pre 2016.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Just found out Im contracted out but the cope figure is only £15 a week. Will have to ring the gov number to see who the pension is with because I ain't got a clue. Not sure if they have that info.

BTW contracting out of serps was a misselling issue and you can get compensation for it.

Only if you received advice to contract out between 1988 and 1997.

 

[flook]

It did me, and anyone else contracted out who retired pre 2016.

yes but we're talking about retiring early now

 

[hilts]

The COPE figure is bollox, mine said £18 but when I tracked the pension down it pays me over £4.5k from when I'm 65.

Also if you have 35 years NI contributions, being contracted out doesn't actually lose you anything from your state pension

How did you track it down?

 

[hilts]

Only if you received advice to contract out between 1988 and 1997.

I almost certainly fall into these years but the problem is i may well have sold it to myself which would make things interesting

 

[flook]

How did you track it down?

I used the link I posted above, was a couple of years ago now but it worked well. My pension provider at the time no longer exists, but my pension rights were transferred to another company who found it and provided all the details. It was surprisingly straightforward

 

[hilts]

This is a decent article with lots of additional information.

How to find a lost pension with an NI number

Telegraph Money explains how to track down savings pots from former jobs

www.telegraph.co.uk

I wasn’t aware that HMRC had the ability to point people towards ‘forgotten’ pension providers, so it will be interesting to see how people get on.
Despite obvious scepticism pension providers will try to track lost policyholders using their NI nimber - @blueinsa seems to be a positive example of this. Good luck in your searches!

The slow wheels of Govt. Logically you woukd think there would be a database. Excellent idea let's get to it they said almost 20 years ago. Still not arrived. End of 2026 they say, not holding my breath. Guess I will need to write to HMRC and ring the Prudential as I worked for them briefly and my guess is that's when I opted opt.

Compensation would be nice but as an employee not sure how that works.