Rabu, 13 Juni 2012

I've been waiting eight years for the £600 I paid into a pension scheme

I've been waiting eight years for the £600 I paid into a pension scheme

By Tony Hazell

PUBLISHED: 05:00 EST, 13 June 2012 | UPDATED: 05:02 EST, 13 June 2012

Pension pain: Why has it taken eight years to wind up my pension?

Pension pain: Why has it taken eight years to wind up my pension?

I am in the M4 Data money purchase pension scheme. In 2004, the company was taken over, the jobs moved abroad and I was made redundant.

I’d paid about £600 in additional voluntary contributions. I am 71 and this money would help me a lot.

JLT Benefit Consultants contacted me in April to say the scheme was being assessed for transferring into the Financial Assistance Scheme. 

I have been waiting eight years for this money. How can this take so long? Mrs I.P., Farnborough, Hampshire.

Winding up a pension scheme can be an extremely complex process â€" those responsible have a duty to make sure everyone gets their fair share of the money.

Having said that, eight years seems a ridiculously long time to wait. I really wish firms involved in the financial world would learn to communicate in plain English â€" the letter you have received was simply unintelligible financial jargon, though it was probably written in that way to conform to certain regulations.

The Financial Assistance Scheme was set up to plug the gap when pension schemes close down and don’t have enough money to pay their members.

This may be because of poor investment decisions, bad management, underfunding or because the directors ran off with the money.

JLT says you will get your money as a cash lump sum. A quarter of this will be tax-free and the rest taxable at your highest rate.

This means that if you are on a low income, you might not have to pay any tax at all. But it is not clear when you will get the money.

The M4 pension scheme must first be transferred to the Financial Assistance Scheme, and before that can happen the scheme has to be valued to see how much money is in it. So, the bad news is your wait must go on.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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the company was taken over, the jobs moved abroad and I was made redundant.NOTHING new then? 'THEY' are also hoping in the meantime you'll pop off FACT( sincerely wish you a long life personally) so you wont even get the CRUMBS!

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the company was taken over, the jobs moved abroad and I was made redundant.NOTHING new then? 'THEY' are also hoping in the meantime you'll pop off FACT( sincerely wish you a long life personally) so you wont even get the CRUMBS!

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