Gathering Information

Each party should obtain a forecast of their State pension rights together with a valuation of their State pension rights, if appropriate.

If you are already in receipt of your state pension you will need to provide a statement showing the breakdown of the benefits payable. This is usually sent to you each March showing the benefits payable for the next tax year, alternatively you can contact the Pension Service to obtain a statement.

If you are yet to reach state pension age then a state pension forecast this can be obtained online via the Government Gateway – www.gov.uk/check-state-pension – or alternatively by completing a form BR19 and sending this to the Pension Service.

It is not possible to obtain a valuation online and has to be done by sending a form BR20 to the Pension Service.

If the forecast is obtained online then this is usually available within 48 hours of making the request if you have existing access to the Government Gateway. It may take slightly longer if you have to apply for Government Gateway access first.

However, if applying via the post then it will usually take 6 to 8 weeks to obtain the details.

The minimum you will need is the basic information about each arrangement which is as follows:

• A valuation of pension rights or benefits accrued
• A statement summarising the way in which the valuation is calculated
• A statement of pension benefits included within the valuation
• Details as to whether the spouse will be offered shadow membership and if so the benefits provided
• Details as to whether the scheme operates a default option, and if so provide details
• A schedule of charges that will be charged throughout the divorce process whether for a pension sharing order or a pension attachment order

The information must have been prepared by the pension provider within the last 12 months, so ‘old’ benefit statements may not suffice. In some circumstances, it may be suggested / requested that current up-to-date details are obtained if it is known that significant movement in value(s) may have occurred i.e. post Brexit.

You may choose one of several ways to obtain the required information

• Write to the pension provider with a request for the information
• Send a Form P to the pension provider and request it to be completed
• Provide a letter of authority to a third party such as your solicitor or CW Pension Consultant Ltd to obtain this information on your behalf. This will allow for further information to be obtained, depending on what is initially disclosed.

There are set timetables in which the information should be provided depending on who makes the request, these timescales are as follows

• If the request is from the member, or the Court, and includes a request for a cash equivalent, then all the information must be provided within three months of the receipt of the request, or within six weeks if the pension provider is notified that court proceedings have commenced, or alternatively such shorter period as specified by the Court.
• If the request is made by the member but does not include a request for a cash equivalent valuation, then, the information must be provided within one month.
• If the request for information is made by the spouse, then the information must be provided within one month of receiving the request or the Court Order.
• The spouse does not have the right to request the cash equivalent

Unfortunately, due to the pressure on many pension departments the time period to obtain information has extended over the last couple years and in some cases, it can take up to 8 to 12 weeks to obtain details.

It is important to ensure that the pension providers are aware that the request for information is for divorce purposes, so that these timescales will apply.

It is also important to ensure that the pension providers are made aware that important financial decisions are going to be made based on this information.

The provision of the basic information is free of charge within a 12-month period, however if the pension provider has already provided information within the previous 12 months then they can, if they wish, charge a fee.

There are no minimum or maximum fees that a pension provider can charge but the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (formerly National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF)) have published guidance for its members setting out a schedule of suggested fees.

It is important to ensure that the pension provider is made aware that the request is for divorce purposes

In addition to the basic information there is a requirement to provide more detailed information if a pension sharing order is to be made, and in fact the court documents require confirmation that this information has been obtained, and it is therefore our view that this information is obtained from outset along with the basic information.

The Trustees/Managers of the pension arrangements should provide the following information to the member or to the Court within 21 days of receiving notification that a Pension Sharing Order may be made:

• Full name of the pension arrangement and address to which the order or any correspondence is to be sent
• If an occupational scheme, whether the scheme is winding up, and if so, the date winding up commenced and the name and address of the trustees who are dealing with the winding up
• Whether the cash equivalent from an occupational scheme will be reduced due to the funding position of the scheme
• Whether the members rights include rights that are not sharable
• Whether the Trustees / Managers require any charges payable in full or the proportion to be paid prior to the implementation of the order
• Whether the Trustees / Managers can levy additional charges and if so the scale of the charges
• Whether the member is a trustee of the pension arrangement
• Whether the Trustees / Managers may request information about the members health from the member if a pension sharing order is to proceed
• Whether the Trustees / Manager will enable the former spouse to nominate a person to receive the pension credit benefit, including any lump sum, in the event of the former spouse before the pension sharing order is fully implemented
• Whether the Trustees / Managers require any additional information to implement the pension sharing order.

It is appreciated that the relevance of some of this information may not be clear but this is something that you can discuss with either your family solicitor or a pension specialist.

If you have lost track of who is now responsible for your pension arrangement then there are two sources that may be able to assist.

The occupational pension schemes (those provided by an employer) there is the Pension Tracing Service.

For personal pension arrangements, whilst there is no central register of each policy, there is the XXXXX for finding who is now responsible where insurance companies have merged or been taken over.

Once you have gathered all the details of your own pension arrangements you and your former spouse need to exchange respective information, and from this you can then decide as part of an overall settlement whether it is worthwhile making a claim for a part of your spouse’s pension rights or vice versa or whether additional questions need to be asked and whether a pensions report will be necessary.

Depending on the information disclosed and the value of the pension assets it may be worthwhile considering the appointment of a ‘shadow pensions expert’ to help identify issues and help your solicitor construct any letter of instruction to a pensions expert, or to be providing you with assistance through the remaining part of the process such as explaining the pensions report, creating an overall solution, and finally implementing a pension sharing order.

CW Pension Consultants Ltd can assist as a shadow expert on your behalf if you wish.