I spent years and years working for the Voluteer Services Overseas and having been told at the beginning that the Government would pay contributions for me according the national average contribution plus 25% only to find years later they hadn't paid a penny......... despite filling out all the forms every year ............... CHEATING LIARS ...... all because some stupid office twitt somewhere filed my forms in the wrong filing caninet .... or so they say.
After that, I then find, having left the railways, that the amount I'd have to pay to get anything back upon retirement (I'm now 47) is so extortionate that I'd be better off with an ordinary savings account.
The reason the amount I paid into the railways pension scheme being worth so little for 10 years odd - the government raided the railway pension scheme to fund privatisation.
So what I'm doing is putting £100 a month into Savings Certificates and have any winnings paid back into it.
I can't find no other viable option.
Cheers