Can I transfer my pension into a SIPP?
Yes, from most pensions, where your current scheme allows it and the SIPP provider accepts it.
Yes, from most pensions, where your current scheme allows it and the SIPP provider accepts it.
If the pension holds safeguarded benefits, such as a final salary pension, worth more than £30,000, the law requires you to take advice from an FCA authorised adviser first.
The advisers for this subject: Sunny Bharj and Tony Springer
Find out whether it carries a guarantee, such as a final salary promise or a guaranteed annuity rate, and whether a fee applies to transfer out.
Your current scheme has to allow a transfer of some or all of the pot, and the SIPP provider has to accept it.
Trustees check a transfer for warning signs of a scam. Some signs mean they must refuse it, and others mean you must take pension scams guidance from MoneyHelper before it can go ahead.
Use the providers' transfer process. Taking the money out and paying it in yourself is a withdrawal, and the part above your tax-free amount is taxed as income.
Safeguarded benefits are pension benefits other than money purchase and cash balance benefits. They carry a guarantee about the income you will receive: a final salary pension, and a guaranteed annuity rate on an older personal pension, are both safeguarded.
Where your safeguarded benefits in a scheme are worth more than £30,000, the trustees must check that you have taken appropriate independent advice from an FCA authorised adviser before they transfer them to a scheme offering flexible benefits, which a SIPP is. Below £30,000 the check is not required, and the guarantee you give up is the same.
Should I transfer my final salary pension? and Should I transfer my deferred final salary pension?
The law restricts transfers from an unfunded public service defined benefit scheme into any scheme that provides flexible benefits. The NHS Pension Scheme is unfunded, so NHS pension rights cannot be transferred into a SIPP.
A guaranteed annuity rate on an older personal pension is a safeguarded benefit, in the same way as a final salary pension.
The law does not require it where the pension holds no safeguarded benefits. Check for a guaranteed annuity rate and an exit fee before you move it. Do I need financial advice to transfer my pension?
You can where the scheme you are leaving allows it. Ask whether it accepts a transfer of part of the pot or only the whole.
There can be. Your current provider can tell you whether one applies and how much it is.
It depends on what each one holds and costs. Should I consolidate my old pensions? If you have lost track of one, How do I find a lost pension?
Get the old scheme's transfer value and a list of any guarantees before you ask a SIPP provider to accept the money.
Independent Financial Adviser
Independent Financial Adviser
Your first call is with an Account Manager and is at no cost to you. Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write.