Wednesday 23 May 2012

Pension Advice: Part Time Work and Pensions


Are you one of the many employees working within a UK company on a part-time basis? Do you have access to your work’s pension scheme? As a part-timer it is just as important that you take high quality pension advice in order to consider the pension options and the pension rights available to you. In fact, as a part-time worker you need to remember that you have the same pension rights as a full-time worker, read on to find out why.

In the past, many part-timer workers would miss out on the Occupational Pension scheme which was set up within their organisation or they would not receive the employer’s part of the contribution to their pension. Part-time workers were not seen as having the same rights as full-timers or the Work Pension scheme would require that the employee work full-time in order to qualify for the scheme membership. However, this all changed in 2001 when the House of Lords ruled that part-time workers who could justifiably claim they had been discriminated against could make claims for pension rights dating back to 1976.  The part-time workers regulations were put in place in order to ensure that part-timers have the same working rights and conditions as full-time workers. As many part-time workers are women (as the primary carer of their family unit) these regulations might also correspond to the sexual discrimination regulations.

What if you do not have access to an Occupational Pension?
If this is the case you may possibly have the right to claim compensation as you are not being treated as fairly as your full-time counterparts. In the past this would mean that you would only be able to claim for two year’s backdated pension contributions based on discrimination regulations. However, this has now changed and if you meet the correct requirements to entitle you to make a claim you may be able to claim back-dated contributions from as far back as 1976.

Are there many conditions you need to meet in order to make a claim?
One of the main requirements is that you have to have been working for your employer within the last six months

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