Can I cash in a pension, now living in Spain

Jospain

We have been paying into the Spanish system for 6 years but also have a private pension in England. We haven't paid anything into that for a long time. Can we surrender/cash in the private pension in England as we have heard that you can if you haven't been living in England for 5 years or more? Is this rumour true as I don't want to approach the pension company until I know the facts.

:cool2: Many thanks in advance.x

noh

See the sticky at the top of this forum.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3447527

gadgetmind

The sticky doesn't seem to mention QROPS.

noh

gadgetmind wrote: »

The sticky doesn't seem to mention QROPS.

The OP asked about cashing in their UK pension plan. The sticky deals with that question.

They may be able to transfer it to a Spanish scheme under QROPS but as far as I am aware they will not be able to "cash it in".

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/rpsmmanual/rpsm14101035.htm

bendix

Again, the 'sloppy language' issue rears it's head.

If by 'cashing in' you mean can you ask them to hand over a cheque for the money in the fund for you to do what you like with, then the answer is a big fat no.

If you mean, can you use it to transfer (via) QROPS to an equivalent pension scheme in Spain, then yes. But, of course, how much access you have to those funds then depends entirely on the rules governing spanish pension schemes.