split service and pensions

[haarob]

my husband worked for Royal mail and I'm a bit confused if i should be contacting anyone else regarding his pension

He had a split service, he worked for 18 years up to 2003/2004, cant remember exact dates and he joined again in 2007 up until his death a month ago.
He wasn't claiming anything and was still working at the time.

We never got round to working out if the 2 pensions have been combined or not , i have been in touch with scottish widows and filled in their forms but not sure if i am meant to contact anyone else.

Can anyone shed any light on it

thanks

[Hawkey99]

Hi harrob,

So sorry to hear about your husband.

Pension with RM can be tricky so if your unsure at all it may be worth seeking professional advise.

Having said that this is a fantastic place for help and support.

[RobertT]

I'm sorry to hear your sad news!

By the sound of it your husband joined RM in 1985 or 1986? In which case he'll have presumably been in what was called the Post Office Staff Superannuation Scheme(POSSS) at the time.

If he'd started a little later, after 1st April 1987, he'd have been in the Post Office Pension Scheme(POPS).

Those two schemes later became the Royal Mail Pension Plan(RMPP), with POSSS becoming section A/B and POPS becoming section C.

If he rejoined RM in 2007 and joined the pension at the time, he should have been enrolled into section C of the RMPP. Which subsequently closed to new entrants on 31st March 2008.

From then on the only option was to join the Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan(RMDCP), which was originally administered by Zurich but changed to Scottish Widows in 2019.
Although I don't think the RMDCP actually started until February 2009.

When RM was privatised, the government took over the admin for all pensions accrued upto 31st March 2012, under the guise of the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme(RMSPS), while RM continued to administer everything after that date via the RMPP.

Therefore I believe he was probably in section B during his first stint in the job and section C in his second. So you would need to contact both the RMSPS(for all service up to 2012) and the RMPP(for all service afterwards).

Their websites which include contact details and lots of info are here:

https://www.royalmailsps.co.uk/
https://www.royalmailpensionplan.co.uk/

Although it's also worth contacting Scottish Widows to rule them out, if nothing else.

RM pensions are very confusing at the best of times and I can appreciate it's a difficult time for you. I've probably given you more info than was needed, but I hope I've been able to point you in the right direction.

[haarob]

he is in the newer one and the paper work for scottish widows has already been done, its the other one im not sure about , he was in the POSSS as we have paperwork for it, he also has one from consignia when they changed their name briefly years ago.

pensions are very confusing

[RobertT]

The Consignia name was used in the early 2000's, so that probably coincided with his first stint in the job.

It sounds like it's the RMSPS you need to contact!