Combine Pensions

[Reni10]

I have a previous private pension fund where I was with my Employer for about 11 months and then left for another job and now also have another pension from my current employer.

Ideally I would like to combine the older pension into my new pension so that I only have one etc. but I believe if you have worked for less than 2 years for an employer and they had contributed to your pension fund as mine had then you need to forfeit those funds and only get access to transfer any contributions you make from your own pocket?

So essentially no one would really do that as you would effectively be throwing money away!

Please let me know if I have it right or is there any option for me to look at?

 

[RedOnion]

If tgere was a 2 year rule, then once you left employment you will have forfeited the employers contributions, regardless of what you do with the pension.
You should have received a leaving options letter that outlines your options, and the transfer value of you pension.

 

[Conan]

The 2 year rule ensures that where you leave employment having completed at least two years membership of the scheme, then you must be be given a preserved benefit on leaving service (based on both employer and employee contributions). If your period of inclusion was less than two years then there is no obligation on the Employer to grant the benefit of their contributions ( but they can if they wish).
So in relation to your 11 months, it should have been decided at the time you left what you entitlement was:
- did you get a full deferred benefit
- did you get a benefit based on your contributions only, or
- did you opt for a refund of your contributions.

If you have some form of preserved benefit then you should be able to take a Transfer Value into your current scheme. But it may depend on whether the the current scheme can facilitate such a transfer.

 

[Reni10]

I did not receive a letter stating anything in terms of what I was owed in the previous pension but I still have a login to the pension site which details everything and both my contributions and my previous employers contributions are still there in the total but the status of the fund is "inactive".

And once a year I get a statement in the post detailing the amount and investment that was either lost or gained for the year.