ASK TONY: One lump sum or two? My pension sweetener from Tetley

I worked for Tetley (of tea bags fame) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. When I left I withdrew my pension fund, amounting to some £300 or so.

A few weeks ago I got a letter, supposedly from Legal & General, regarding some possible accrued pension. I followed this up using the phone number suggested, but this did not go through to L&G’s switchboard.

After some contact by phone and mail, I have received a quotation, and reams of literature, all with L&G motifs, but I still have my suspicions. Any advice please?

E. H., Eastbourne. E. Sussex.

Rich tea: A reader feared he was being targetted by scammers when he received a letter about his pension fund from Tetley who he stopped working for in the early 1970s

You are right to be cautious, but in this case that caution is unfounded. You really do have some unclaimed pension. Where has this windfall come from?

Under the pension rules at the time, Tetley would have had to guarantee that your occupational pension would have been at least as good as any extra state pension you might have built up had you not been in its scheme.

This was called Equivalent Pension Benefit. This money could not be refunded when you left the company.

You have three options. First is a taxable level annual income of £179.04.

Second, tax-free cash of £580.73 with a taxable income of £87.12 a year.

Third, a lump sum of £1,130.99. In this case £282.75 would be tax-free, with the remainder taxable at your highest rate. If you are a basic-rate taxpayer you would lose £169.65 tax.

Legal & General sends out ‘wake-up’ letters when it manages to trace people on behalf of pension schemes it has taken over the liabilities of.

Between August 2019 and August 2020 L&G traced 3,523 customers.

A spokesman says: ‘When members call and aren’t sure whether the letter they’ve received is genuine we usually suggest they find an L&G helpline or switchboard number online or via Citizens Advice. They can call that number and ask to be put through to the administration team.’

You have YOUR say 

Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some in response to our article about how your 1970s memorabilia could make you a small fortune:

I have three beautiful Ossie Clark dresses from the 1970s and I know they are worth a lot of money. However, I can’t see myself selling them as I always wear one on Christmas day.

S. M., Brighton.

I’ve been clearing out my loft for three years now, and have sold things on eBay and Gumtree. 

Most are old toys from the 1970s and 1980s including several from the Star Wars, Action Man and My Little Pony franchises.

S. W., Romford, London.

You can make a lot of money on selling sites. I recently sold a 1978 Umbro football shirt on eBay for £250. I couldn’t believe it, especially as I only had to pay a £1 selling fee.

D. F., USA.

Space hoppers were around 50 years ago. I had the generic one with the handles rather than the ears which you couldn’t grip as easily. Anyone who kept theirs in a box must have had a sad childhood.

T. C., Nottingham.

Not everything which is vintage will sell so easily. I have a beautiful rosewood table and sideboard which I bought in the 1970s. They are getting no interest on eBay at all.

R. P., Christchurch, Dorset.

I tried to sell some things from the 1960s and it was a waste of time. Nobody wanted to give me anything for it. The only interested people I could find were on Freecycle.

P. C., Hertford.

I still have a pair of 1970s clackers, which are two plastic balls on a string that you swing. 

I doubt you would be able to get anything for them nowadays as they are probably classed as dangerous weapons.

P. B., Leeds.

Can you can ask Hargreaves Lansdown to speed up the transfer of my stocks and shares Isa to iWeb? The request was submitted by iWeb on or around May 19.

On July 7 iWeb wrote to HL asking what was happening. HL said it had received a valid transfer request but that it had been sent to the wrong section of its organisation, where it lay unattended for seven weeks.

We were told the application would now be processed in three to seven weeks. I made a complaint requesting my transfer should be expedited and some compensation paid.

The managing director of iWeb wrote to me on August 10 apologising for the delay, and said that despite numerous requests to HL it was still experiencing problems. I have emailed HL several times.

B. L., Swansea.

I have huge sympathy with your plight as I, too, am attempting investment transfers that have dragged on for months. Hargreaves Lansdown admits it ‘did not cover itself in glory’ when it came to your transfer.

When the request went to the wrong team I’d expect employees of a professional organisation to pass it to the right place, not leave it festering for weeks.

This delay meant the password on an encrypted PDF expired, so HL had to ask for a new transfer application.

It has since promised to expedite your transfer and paid £200 compensation.

If you feel that you have incurred any specific financial loss as a result of the time taken to transfer your account, you need to forward details and any supporting evidence. This might include any agreement you had with iWeb to invest your funds which was delayed, resulting in financial loss.

*** 

My wife and I went on holiday to Spain in February. We took our car and used Brittany Ferries. She became very ill and was hospitalised there.

After three weeks in hospital I wanted to get her back to England, so booked a ferry crossing with Brittany Ferries leaving on March 31.

On March 30, the sailing was cancelled. I had paid the full cost of £270. This cancellation left us stranded in Spain, as there were no flights from any airports.

The British Consulate helped get my wife home. Unfortunately she passed away within four weeks of returning home.

Since then I have tried to recoup the £270 from Brittany Ferries. The firm was totally unhelpful and cut me off on seven occasions. I tried my bank, but after three weeks it wrote back to say it could not get a refund.

C. U., Tenbury Wells, Worcs.

My deepest condolences to you for the torrid time you had this year.

Brittany Ferries swung into action when I highlighted your case. Apparently a credit note was issued for your cancelled crossing. But this would be of scant use to you.

A spokesman told me Brittany Ferries does not have any record of you requesting a refund, but that is no doubt because you found it impossible to contact the company.

It admits that the volume of cancellations that occurred at the height of the Covid crisis overwhelmed its call centres.

Brittany Ferries has refunded your fare. It has also written to you personally to explain what happened and to apologise.

• We love hearing from our loyal readers, so ask that during this challenging time you write to us by email where possible, as we will not pick up letters sent to our postal address as regularly as usual. You can write to: asktony@ dailymail.co.uk or, if you prefer, Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 D erry Street, London W8 5TT — please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.

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