wmpfonline.com Reviews 132

I wanted to transfer my pension to a drawdown with another company due to not being able to take more from my pension. I was told if my pension was 30 grand or less I could, more than that amount it can not be taken or transferred. Was told I would not be able to access anymore due to having my main payout over 10 yrs ago. I also said that I want to change the details of family member who would receive payment on my death. Was told that if I had died within 10 yrs of first payment I could however after that time no benefices would receive any of my pension. So the large amount of pension would be kept by WMPF on my death. I feel like I have been cheated out of the money that I have worked hard to put in. Just hope I live to 100 to try and get what they hold in tiny monthly payments.

Enough is enough with Wolverhampton City Council managing the pension scheme. The Director needs to take some responsibility or be sacked on the basis of incompetence.

The processing time for my potential spousal benefits has now stretched to 5 months. I informed the fund I was in financial difficulty and was completely ignored. A follow-up email to the fund requesting a possible date for any information even an estimate was answered in a rude and officious manner. Basically I was told to stop bothering them as it would not speed up the process. I will be replying to this email as this is not satisfactory and will request details of the relevant complaints procedure.

Waiting for months for an estimate. I submitted a formal complaint to WMPF I’m but still waiting for a response. I believe the ombudsman/government needs to take action.

Alan Rainey

The very worst service I have ever received from ANY company. I've been waiting over four months for my pension and lump sum to be paid. I've sent email after email, phoned them over and over, raised an official complaint - everything has been completely ignored. Its as if I don't exist!
There's no communication from the company at all, the only time I get any information is when I phone to chase the progress of my case, which I've done numerous times. But the staff answering the phones cant give me any detailed information, cant tell me how much longer I'm going to have to wait, basically cant do anything to get things moving. I've contacted my local MP, been in touch with the Ombudsman , nothing seems to work. In the meantime I have no income at all and am living off savings I had not intended to touch. Its absolutely appalling. How can an organization trusted to pay the pensions of individuals be so badly run, so poorly organized, so completely indifferent and seemingly oblivious to the hardship and distress they are causing and be allowed to get away with it?
I have never encountered a service as bad as this one!

I’ve been waiting 6 months for my pension including a lump sum. I’ve completed every form, requested an appointment, sent a formal complaint which have all been ignored. I’ll try the financial ombudsman now. The worst service I have ever received!
Update it’s now been 8 months and after a complaint to the assistant director and support from my MP I have been promised my pension and lump sum within a week. Let’s see. Go to your MP.

I been trying to get my deferred pension since may but was told I can’t have it because Iam in the same employment . But I am not because I work as a different roll know but they still go I need to leave that employment . So I asked if I leave that employment how much money will I get a month £157 a month that’s all what a joke

Terrible company, useless it needs to be replaced and senior management held to account. A night mare to deal with. It needs investigating.

I suspect this pension fund do not have the funds and will be insolvent pretty soon

I have been waiting 1 year for a pension after being made redundant .
The service is appalling . 2 weeks ago I was told it was ‘in payment ‘ but nothing is paid . I rang yesterday and was left on hold for 30 mins and then cut off .
I had a more helpful lady today but my money has still not been paid .
The CEO and all management need to be sacked and replaced with staff that can actually do the job .
However , that doesn’t help those of us waiting .

I think you can see from all of the other responses that this pension fund is shocking, they simply reply to on line queries with it is being looked into & case closed with no answers, when you phone they say we have no dates for resolving queries due to an issue 2 years ago with the IT system.!!!!
How this has not been flagged on TV as a scandal is beyond me as they literally just ignore you.
Good luck to anyone retiring soon

Very poor. Trying to get a refund of LGPS. This has been going on now for several months and there is still no sign of it being processed.
You can’t ring them from a mobile phone. If you try choosing either option 1 or 2 you just get a message saying the option has not been registered. Useless.

completed options pack & submitted expecting pension payments including lump sum from my AVC's
3 months after my retirement - NOTHING
same as other reviewers - their team are working on it & will notify me as and when they have my payment date
ARE THERE ACTUALLY ANY TEAM WORKING AT W.M.P.

Based on my experience as someone who was 'dismissed' on tier 1 ill-health retirement, I can only give a score of 1. The system doesn't allow a lower score or rating than that. Yes, it shouldn't have taken months and lots of complaining to see some action as someone with advanced cancer, but then it shouldn't take months on end for any of us, as the vast majority of us have no other income and still have bills to pay. The utter farce that has ensued since the heralded 'new' software came in nearly two years ago just beggars belief. While it's beyond poor that we are just expected to wait for months on end, it isn't helpful at all that the powers that be keep repeating a mantra of an improving picture. When you provide an absolutely appalling service and make it slightly less appalling, it is still an appalling service. But worry not, WMPFS is apparently in regular contact. Not my experience. I wonder if they know Doris Stokes is dead as it feels a little like there's some reliance on forces other than emails and phone calls to give real and meaningful updates. It's been a vile experience for me, and no doubt for hundreds and probably thousands of others given the size of the Pension Scheme. It can't be pleasant being a worker ant there either, knowing you're being set up to fail. There seems to be no rhyme or reason either. I heard a few days ago of a friend of a friend who got his payments started two weeks after retiring very recently and today I heard from someone who is finally anticipating death in service payment for their spouse five months on. The payment won't ease the grief of course, but having some financial security when managing your own grief and trying to do your best for your young children is the very least we can reasonably expect. Despite my disappointment in the service I've witnessed, I would still encourage younger people to sign up to a decent pension scheme (and WMPFS does seem robust financially), but for them and others, it wouldn't hurt to squirrel away enough money to tide you over for six months or more in case some idiots sanction another crappy untested software system. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help feeling that this shit-show is just giving the government the green light to swoop in.

Boycott this company. The owners are ardent fox hunting supporters. The 'sport' of low-life inbreds

Started the process for getting an early retirement quote in September 2024. Was told should be sorted by Christmas. Chased in December, was told previous employer had not filled out a leavers form correctly. I got that sorted myself same day, waited again, chased again in January, raised a formal complaint. Eventually got an aggregation decision form which I returned same day, rung to confirm they received, waited again, got a response start of March that I would receive my pension quote "shortly". Tried to chase again today by phone, but their phone system is down. As others have done or are doing, I am now looking into making a complaint to the banking ombudsman and local MP. As others have said, this has been going on for years and no one seems to have been held to account.

I have had yet another conversation with WMPF. Didn't think things could get any worse with them. I waited 40 mins for call to be answered. I asked about changing to a drawdown pension and told NO because I have been drawing my pension since 2014. I took it early due to ill health. To be told that I could not up my monthly amount. The worse being that my children on my death will not receive 1p after my death as I have not died within the 10 years from first drawing my pension.
So paying in to my pension all those years, can not ever remember being told this and the fact that it will go into a melting pot. Was told well you will be paid your monthly amount for life. My reply then least hope I live a long life. What is in my pot is an awful lot of money. I am fuming to say the least, feel like I've been had. Surely at this time of life, I'm 67 that all my pot would make like so much better than it is now.
How can this be legal!!!

SAV

I retired on 31 August 2024, over 6 months later I still haven’t received a penny of my pension from WMPF. All you get is polite stonewalling and excuses on the phone while the bills pile up. No fast-tracking for difficult/delayed cases, and no system of interim hardship payments for those facing WMPF’s egregious delays - while they fail to effectively chase employers for information and allow themselves weeks to bother processing forms. A formal complaint just got me two pages of weak excuses and corporate doublespeak. Dealing with them is disempowering, de-humanizing, soul-destroying. They’ve ruined the first six months of my retirement.

WMPF are an absolute joke, I retired in September 2024 (my paperwork was submitted in August 2024) 6 months later I was still with no payment of my lump sum or my monthly pension. They kept giving excuse after excuse for not paying me, in the end I had to complain to my MP who was fantastic & finally after his input I got my lump sum (I am still awaiting my AVC payment even though they knew about that too) I am yet to receive my first monthly payment in March 2025! It has been the most stressful time of my life, bills still need paying, how are you supposed to do that with no income? It’s about time they became accountable for their actions

I have been waiting for a commutation since February 2024.still waiting...really stressed about not receiving any funds ...just keep saying its with the operations team...disgusting service ..causing a lot of anxiety now ..a year and still nothing !!