Did you contract out of SERPS?

The State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) was introduced by the UK government in 1978 as a way to provide an additional pension on top of the basic state pension. SERPS was a pay-as-you-go system, which means that the contributions made by workers were used to pay the pensions of retirees at that time. The scheme was funded by National Insurance contributions, and the amount of additional pension that an individual could receive was based on their earnings and the number of years that they had paid into the scheme.

Why were SERPS introduced?

The purpose of SERPS was to provide individuals with a level of retirement income that would enable them to maintain their standard of living after they had stopped working. This was particularly important at a time when the UK population was ageing, and there were concerns that the state pension alone would not be sufficient to provide a decent standard of living in retirement.

What is contracting out of SERPS?

Contracting out of SERPS, also known as "opting out", was a process that allowed individuals to redirect some of the National Insurance contributions that would have gone towards the additional SERPS pension to a private pension scheme of their choice. In exchange for contracting out, the individual would receive a rebate of National Insurance contributions that they could use to boost their private pension savings.

The idea behind contracting out was to encourage people to save for their retirement by offering them tax incentives and allowing them to choose a private pension scheme that met certain requirements specified by the UK government. The government believed that individuals would be better off in the long run by taking control of their own pension savings and investing them in a private pension scheme that offered better returns than SERPS.

The reality was out also meant that the individual was giving up their entitlement to the additional pension that would have been provided by SERPS. This was a significant decision, as it meant that the individual would need to ensure that the private pension scheme they joined would provide a comparable level of retirement income to what they would have received from SERPS.

How did contracting out work?

To contract out of SERPS, an individual had to meet certain eligibility criteria. The most common way to contract out was through an occupational pension scheme, which was offered by an employer. The occupational pension scheme had to meet certain requirements specified by the UK government, such as providing a minimum level of pension benefits and being registered with the government's regulatory body, the Pensions Regulator.

Once an individual had joined an eligible pension scheme, they would notify the government that they were contracting out of SERPS. This would trigger a rebate of National Insurance contributions that the individual could then use to boost their private pension savings. The rebate was paid into the individual's pension scheme, where it was invested to provide a retirement income.

The amount of the rebate that an individual received depended on their age, earnings, and the length of time that they had paid into SERPS. The rebate was calculated based on a formula that took into account the individual's expected entitlement to SERPS at retirement age, as well as the expected investment returns on the rebate.

Advantages of contracting out

There were several advantages to contracting out of SERPS. The main advantage was the potential to receive a higher retirement income than what would have been provided by SERPS alone. By redirecting National Insurance contributions to a private pension scheme, individuals could take advantage of the potentially higher investment returns offered by the private pension scheme.

In addition, the government provided tax incentives to encourage people to save for their retirement, such as tax relief on pension contributions and tax-free growth on pension savings.

Another advantage of contracting out was the flexibility that it offered. By joining a private pension scheme, individuals could choose how their pension savings were invested, which gave them more control over their retirement income. They could also choose when to retire and how they wanted to receive their pension income, such as in the form of an annuity or as a lump sum.

Finally, contracting out allowed individuals to transfer their pension savings to another scheme if they changed jobs or if they wanted to consolidate their pensions into one scheme. This made it easier for individuals to keep track of their pension savings and to manage their retirement income more effectively.

Disadvantages of contracting out

While there were several advantages to contracting out, there were also some disadvantages that individuals needed to be aware of. One of the main disadvantages was the risk associated with investing in a private pension scheme. Unlike SERPS, which was backed by the UK government, private pension schemes were subject to investment risk and the value of pension savings could go up or down depending on market conditions.

In addition, contracting out meant that individuals were giving up their entitlement to the additional pension that would have been provided by SERPS. While the rebate of National Insurance contributions could boost their private pension savings, individuals needed to ensure that the private pension scheme they joined would provide a comparable level of retirement income to what they would have received from SERPS. This required careful consideration of the fees and charges associated with the private pension scheme, as well as the investment performance and the level of pension benefits provided.

Another disadvantage of contracting out was the potential loss of other benefits associated with SERPS. For example, SERPS provided additional pension benefits for widows, dependents, and disabled people, which were not always available through private pension schemes. By contracting out, individuals could potentially lose access to these additional benefits, which could have a significant impact on their retirement income.

Finally, contracting out was not always suitable for everyone. Individuals who had a low level of earnings, for example, may not have received a significant rebate of National Insurance contributions and may have been better off staying in SERPS. Similarly, individuals who had a short time horizon until retirement may not have had enough time to build up a significant pension pot through a private pension scheme.

Why this still matters today

For most people who contracted out, the decision itself is history — but its consequences are not. The rebates described above were paid into a private pension scheme, invested, and left to grow. Whatever is in that pot today is the result of decades of investment performance and charges, and it is a live asset that still has to be managed.

That has several practical implications.

The pot may have been forgotten. Contracting out was frequently arranged through an employer, and pots attached to employments that ended long ago are among the most commonly mislaid. If you changed jobs, moved house, or moved abroad, the scheme may have lost contact with you rather than the reverse. Our guides to tracing lost UK pensions and tracing lost UK pensions from abroad set out how to reconnect with them.

It may still be invested as though you were decades from retirement — or not invested at all. A pot that has sat untouched since the employment ended has been running on whatever default arrangement applied at the time. Whether that remains appropriate depends entirely on how close you now are to drawing benefits.

Charges compound in the same direction as growth. The point made above about scrutinising fees and charges applies with more force over a thirty- or forty-year holding period than it does over a few years.

Older schemes sometimes carry benefits worth keeping. Some legacy arrangements attach guarantees or benefit promises that would not be available in a modern contract. These are exactly the features that are lost if a pot is transferred without checking, which is why consolidation should follow a review rather than precede one — see the case for and against pension consolidation.

If you have since moved abroad

For readers who are now non-resident, a pot that originated in a contracting-out rebate is simply a UK pension, and raises the same cross-border questions as any other: where the income will be taxed, which treaty applies, what currency you will draw in, and what happens to the fund on death. Those questions are covered in our guides to pension drawdown options for expats and QROPS for UK expats.

The related question of what the contracting-out period did to your State Pension entitlement is a separate matter with its own rules; see contracted-out pension rights and checking your State Pension forecast and NI record.

The nomination nobody has looked at

There is one question a review of an old pot answers faster than any other, and it is the one asked least often: who would receive this money if you died tomorrow?

A pension is not usually dealt with by your will. It is held by trustees or a scheme administrator, who decide who receives the death benefit — guided, but in most arrangements not bound, by the expression of wish you completed when you joined. The purpose of that form is to tell them what you want. Its weakness is that it records what you wanted on the day you filled it in.

A pot originating in a contracting-out rebate is, by definition, an old one. The nomination attached to it was most likely made when the employment began, which for a great many people was before a marriage, a divorce, a second relationship, or the arrival of children. Forms naming a former partner, a parent who has since died, or an estate that no longer reflects the family sit undisturbed in scheme records for decades, and nobody discovers them at a convenient moment.

Two further points apply to anyone who has since moved abroad. A scheme has to be able to find your beneficiaries, which is harder when the family lives in a different country from the one the records were created in — an out-of-date address on the file is a problem for them rather than for you. And where beneficiaries are resident elsewhere, how a lump sum or a continuing income is treated when they receive it is a question for their jurisdiction as well as for the UK, and is better established in advance than left to the people dealing with your affairs afterwards.

Updating a nomination costs nothing and takes a few minutes. It is the highest-value item on any pension housekeeping list and the one most reliably left undone.

Key take aways

Contracting out of SERPS was a process that allowed individuals to redirect some of the National Insurance contributions that would have gone towards the additional SERPS pension to a private pension scheme of their choice. While there were several advantages to contracting out, such as the potential for higher investment returns and greater flexibility, there were also some disadvantages that individuals needed to be aware of, such as the investment risk associated with private pension schemes and the potential loss of other benefits associated with SERPS. As with any financial decision, individuals needed to carefully consider their options and seek professional advice before deciding whether to contract out of SERPS.