worrying about losing pension

[r.t]

hiya all,

got my creditors meeting date for the end of feb. im worrying about my occupational pension, im wondering if they can make me release the money thats in my pension fund. ive been paying into it for 8 years. i have been told that they usually only allow 50 pounds per month as a contribution towards a pension. i pay 117 pounds at the moment. i contacted my employers pensions dept and they told me it cant be reduced as its set as 5 percent of my salary. if the creditors agree to 50 pounds can i make up the 67 pound shortfall out of my expenses as i dont want to opt out of my pension scheme. im just so worried that they will make me pay it all and i wont be able to opt back in for 5 years which totals 13 years of not paying in to it, hope this makes sense to you all....

[Adam Davies]

Hi
The money in your pension fund is safe,if you are under 55 and even if you are over that age I thnk that it is unusual for them to insist that you take a lump sum out.They can insist that you stop paying into your pension scheme but this seems to vary from creditor to creditor.Your IP should have proposed your IVA with your income based on your net pay after pension payments have been made.
If your creditors do stick to the £50 limit then it is possible for you to use any contingency money or overtime to fund the difference but this will be tough on you for five years.
What dividend are you proposig to your creditors ?

[r.t]

hi andy,

the figure on my summary of proposal is an estimated divident is 45 pence. clear start called me in the week and said that i needed to email them confirmation that i would be prepared to opt out of my pension. i sent them the email and the next day i received the final lot of paperwork which has my meeting date on it and all the legal stuff. but there is nothing on there about the pension and when we worked all the figures out it was based on my wages after the pension has been deducted.... just a bit confused!!![?]

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Well at least your proposal doesn't show that you are stopping your pension payments so unless your creditors pick this up and ask for a modification then you should be ok.The fact that you are offering 45p dividend is above all known hurdle rates so there should be no reason to ask you to stop paying into your pension.
Regards

[MelanieGiles]

You should not agree to opting out of your pension - and your IP should fight hard to keep this for you, especially if you are over the age of 40. My staff regularly have discussions with creditors in this regard, and generally find them very reasonable about the treatment of pensions.

Andy - I do think that this was an important area that was missed from the recent protocol review.