The Government has been criticised for leaving pensioners in a state of “total confusion” about why some are not receiving the full state pension.
The reason is often because they were contracted out – sometimes without them noticing – at some point in their career. This meant they paid a reduced rate of national insurance in exchange for a lower state pension.

Senior Partner, Anna Rogers commented: “If this is the case, contact those schemes to check what additional benefits you could be entitled to.”

Associate, Sarah Miller also commented: “Schemes only have until December 2018 to agree with HMRC about what GMPs are payable. After that, HMRC will issue a pension statement to all individuals on its records as being under State Pension age and who have contracted-out pension rights in a defined benefit scheme. The statement will state the period the individual was contracted-out and the name of the relevant scheme. We understand HMRC are still working with DWP to decide what additional information should be provided on this statement.

Individuals may find that they have a benefit in a private or company pension scheme that they had forgotten about (or had lost the details of). In which case they could contact those schemes to check what additional benefits they are entitled to. The trustees of these schemes may not necessarily agree with HMRC’s conclusion that the individual has a benefit in their scheme but it may prove difficult to insist otherwise. It seems likely there will be a deluge of enquiries and potentially disputes arising from this. HMRC says it will provide support (including for pension schemes who query the benefit described in the statement) but only until April 2020.”

Read the full article in the i newspaper here