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Claiming DB Pension early at 60 Problem / Delays

SPURLEY
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Claiming DB Pension early at 60 Problem / Delays

#346005

Postby SPURLEY » October 7th, 2020, 8:27 pm

Hello , this is my first post . I have a deferred Pension which is administered by Mercer . For the past 5 or 6 years I have requested a valuation each year . At the end of 2019 I decided that as I turned 60 at the end of January this year I would contact Mercer for a Pension forecast with the intention this year of claiming it . I actually waited till June before contacting them . On the 8th of June I rang them . I was told it would take up to 20 working days . On the 11th July I received the Retirement Benefits Statement . I chose option 2 which was a reduced Pension and the maximum tax free lump sum . On the 13th July i sent off the forms to claim my Pension - A retirement date of 1st August 2020 . I rang Mercer on the 26th August and was told that they were still waiting for Divestment of funds--They had requested divestment of funds on the 5th August and that they reviewed this every Monday , I was told that the scheme`s Pensioners were paid on the 1st of every month , and that as soon as the funds had been Divested the Tax free lump sum would be paid no matter what date . On 9th September I rang Mercer again . I was told that there was still no Divestments , but that it could take up to 6 weeks . I rang Mercer on the 16th September . I was told there was still no money , however she then asked me if I had had AVC `s , I said yes - with Equitable Life starting around 1987 till 1995 . She then told me that it was the Divestment of my AVC `s which they were waiting for . I told her that at the last valuation of the AVC `s they were only worth around 7K . She told me that they needed all my funds divesting before they could start to pay my Pension. She did say that they - Mercer had given them a deadline of the 29th September to Divest my AVC `s so that they could start paying my Pension from the 1st October. I rang Mercer on the 29th of September to be told they were still waiting for the Divestment of funds from Utmost Life - who were now looking after my AVC money . She told me that it was not their fault that Utmost Life had not Divested my AVC `s , and that there was no guarantee that my Pension would start on the 1st of October , so I should not have been told as such. A little later that day I went on google and found Utmost Life . I rang them and went through the personal info that they asked for . She told me I had a policy and what was I calling for ? . I told her that Mercer was waiting for Utmost Life to Divest my funds . She checked and told me Mercer HAD NEVER CONTACTED them to request the Divestment . She doubled checked , NO Mercer have never asked for my funds !! . I rang Mercer straight after the call . I asked the man if the call was being recorded - yes it is - right then how come I have just been told by Utmost Life that Mercer have NEVER asked them to Divest my AVC money ????? . He didn`t know what to say , and I hung up on him .The following day I rang Utmost Life to be told Mercer had still not asked for my AVC money . I rang Mercer she apologised for all the delays and put me on hold for 5 minutes . She got back to me to say that she had contacted their Treasury Dept to ask them to look into it all and to send another form to Utmost Life . I rang Mercer on the 5th October . They finally admitted they had not contacted Utmost Life on the 5th of August like they have kept telling me time after time , but they had sent the form off to Utmost Life on the 1st October and that it could take up to 15 working days to receive the funds . She also told me that within the next 24 to 72 hours their complaints Dept were going to ring me with an apology . I am still waiting . Apparently the form was an attachment but the email was never sent . Was this intentional ??? Where do I stand regards compensation ?

mc2fool
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Re: Claiming DB Pension early at 60 Problem / Delays

#346008

Postby mc2fool » October 7th, 2020, 8:45 pm

Call and have a chat with the Pensions Ombudsman. https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/can-i-complain

We can look at complaints about the way personal and occupational pension schemes are run. You can complain to us about the employer, trustee, manager or administrator of the scheme. We can look at things like:

taking too long to do something without good reason
failing to do something they should have
not following their own rules or the law
breaking a promise
giving incorrect or misleading information
not making a decision in the right way.

P.S. Breaking a post into paragraphs helps make it more readable. ;)
Last edited by mc2fool on October 7th, 2020, 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

SPURLEY
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Posts: 100
Joined: December 23rd, 2019, 8:53 pm
Been thanked: 30 times

Re: Claiming DB Pension early at 60 Problem / Delays

#346009

Postby SPURLEY » October 7th, 2020, 8:48 pm

Thank you very much , and yes I should have .

SPURLEY
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Posts: 100
Joined: December 23rd, 2019, 8:53 pm
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Re: Claiming DB Pension early at 60 Problem / Delays

#346012

Postby SPURLEY » October 7th, 2020, 8:57 pm

Hi mc2fool thank you for your information . Much appreciated .


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