You might be considering transferring your benefits to another pension arrangement. If so contact us to ask for a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value quotation.
This is not the same as your Money Purchase Fund Value, and may take several weeks to obtain.
Eligiblity
At any age you can request that the Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) of your pension benefits is transferred to another registered pension arrangement.
This means that you may transfer to the following types of arrangements:
- an occupational pension scheme run by your new employer - if they are willing to accept a transfer,
- a personal pension,
- a self-invested pension plan (SIPP),
- a stakeholder pension.
The receiving arrangement must be registered with HM Revenue and Customs. The receiving scheme administrator will know whether it has been registered and the Which? Scheme administrators will require the evidence of their registration before making the transfer.
To protect your assets from fraudulent requests, you will also need to provide proof of your identity before any payment is made.
Remember that your Defined Benefit pension is a valuable benefit.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pensions Regulator believe that it will be in most people’s best interests to keep their Defined Benefit pension.
Even if we have told you that your pension will be based on the Money Purchase Pension, it is still classed as a safeguarded Defined Benefit pension.
The FCA provide impartial information to help you understand the value of your pension benefits here www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pension-transfer-defined-benefit.
Avoiding a Scam
If you transfer out of a Defined Benefit pension, you cannot reverse it. Make sure you understand the risks to help you make an informed decision.
There has been a significant increase in pension scams and fraud in the last few years and we urge Scheme members to be vigilant in spotting the tell-tale signs.
We encourage you to look at the FCA's impartial website for further information www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/how-avoid-pension-scams
You may have already been offered the opportunity to transfer these benefits to an alternative arrangement and the Scheme Trustees want to ensure that you have not been approached - whether by cold-calling, email or face-to-face - to encourage you to transfer these benefits to another investment vehicle without the same guarantees as you have in this Scheme.
If you realise you have received marketing material or been called out of the blue to offer you this opportunity, please contact us to have an impartial discussion about your pension.
What you Would be Giving up
The Consumers' Association Pension and Employee Benefit Scheme is a Defined Benefit Scheme with a Money Purchase underpin that is invested in a Prudential With-profits policy, which comes with certain guarantees that a receiving arrangement may not have.
Because of this underpin, at your retirement the Final Salary Pension will be compared to the Money Purchase Pension and you will be paid the higher of the two.
Once this pension is in payment it is guaranteed to be paid for the rest of your life, increasing in payment each April, and there is also a pension for your spouse or financially interdependent partner in the event of your death.
If the higher pension at retirement for you is the Money Purchase Pension, you will be entitled automatically to a CETV quotation at the same time to show you how much the Scheme actuary believes it would cost to purchase equivalent benefits in another arrangement.
Getting Advice
If the value of your CETV is more than £30,000 and the transfer is to a scheme or arrangement that provides money purchase or “flexible” benefits, the transfer is subject to the requirement that you must obtain appropriate independent advice, which you will have to pay for.
To find out more about finding a properly regulated advisor you can follow this link www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pension-transfer/advice-what-expect, this will enable you to carry out your own check that the advisor is reputable.
Good quality advice is never free and you should be prepared to share with your advisor information about your investments, financial goals, attitudes towards risk and personal circumstances, to enable them to give you considered advice.
If you do decide to transfer the benefits to another provider, your advisor should provide confirmation to you of their registration and authorisation and that the advice they have provided is specific to your transfer.
Overseas Transfers
If you move abroad a transfer to a Registered Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS) is possible, but must be treated with caution as such transfers are more often subject to abuse and can result in punitive tax charges for you if the receiving arrangement turns out to be bogus.
Many overseas pension arrangements are not on HMRC’s registered list, so check this beforehand. Bear in mind that we can pay pensions overseas even if you can’t transfer to your overseas arrangement.
Pension benefits built up in the UK cannot legally be accessed before age 55* - except in the circumstances of ill health incapacity - and there are no legitimate loopholes that allow this, even if you transfer your benefits overseas.
Contact us if you would like to discuss anything if you are thinking of transferring to another arrangement.
*The government is changing this age. From 6th April 2028, you must be at least 57 before you can take any pension benefits.