Will it be a problem that I will retire with 22 separate pension funds ?

A question about : Will it be a problem that I will retire with 22 separate pension funds ?

I currently have an old Pru personal pension which I pay a small monthly amount into just to keep it going.

I also have a company pension which I joined 10 years ago. I am a seasonal worker with the company, employed from September to March each year. I have no continuity of employment. Each September I return as a new starter.

The company pension has 6% taken from my wages, and 10% from the company. In the summer it does not get deferred, it simply sits there with no payments going in. When I return to work they automatically resume.

The scheme is now changing for new members because they have had to provide auto-enrolment. We will have to pay in 10% of wages to get the company 10%. I will be forced to have the pension deferred every March, and a new one started every September.

People already in the company scheme, but working full time, will stay in the old scheme. The original scheme stated that if we intended to return to the company all we had to do was inform them when we left, and the scheme would be kept open for us.

I plan to stay with the company, so when I retire I will have 22 separate pension pots. What will be the implications of this ? I am told that only a few can be combined to make one annuity. If I roll the old one into the new one each year will there be charges or other costs ?

It sounds a nightmare for both me and them to administer, and is presumably being done so that there is no implied continuity of employment. They save on things like sick pay at the moment as no-one gets any until they have completed 12 months service. Although I work with people who have up to 35 years of 6 months employment in the same job, none of us ever qualify as having done 12 months. Also after 12 months there is a 10% pay rise which we can never qualify for.

Best answers:

• You can have as many as you like. Usually though people aim to consolidate them somewhat before or at retirement.
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• If we're talking about the Auto-Enrolment, it's my understanding that your pot goes with you wherever you work - so you'll only ever have 1 NEST Pension?
• That assumes it is NEST and not any of the other options. Although you would expect any money purchase scheme to be able to stop/start very easily. It is only defined benefit schemes were there could be issues.
• My understanding is that it is the company's defined contribution scheme. It is not a defined benefit scheme. I have not been given the brochure as I am still in the old scheme at the moment, and will not be forced to leave it until January.
  An advisor was sent to answer any questions. He said I would have a new pension each year. He may have been wrong of course, but I understood it was so that our employment would not count as continuos service.