Pension help!!

MissG_2

My partner needs some help from somebody with a bit of experitse in this area.

He has been paying into a pension for the past 5 1/2 years now and is thinking of a career change for a couple of reasons.

1, Drastic change in working conditions/times of work etc.

2, There is also news of voluntary redundancies in the near future.

He knows you are unable to claim the pension back until retirment under normal circumstances. Could this be claimed back taking into account the above and pay the tax on it?

Or is there any other way this can be claimed back. If it cannot be claimed back is there any real benefit transferring to a new employer?

dunstonh

You cannot touch the pension before age 55 (assuming he wont be aged 50 before 2010) for any circumstances other than a few specialist occupations.

As to whether the pension could be or should be transferred, that would depend on the type of scheme and benefits retained after leaving employment compared with those offered by the new employer. No straight answer possible as it would take an analysis of the two schemes to give the answer you need.

MissG_2

Thanks dunstonh

Not exactly what he wanted to hear considering how much has been paid in and he wont be able to touch it until he's 55.

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margaretclare

Hi MissG

I'm no expert, but I had understood that nowadays a pension plan was like a suitcase - you could pick it up and move it from job to job. I thought that the rules had changed so that this was easier - after all, few people now believe in a 'job for life' or staying with one employer for 40 years 'just to get the pension'.

On the other point, I think it was a wise move to make it impossible for pension contributions to be accessed until a later age. This wasn't the case in former years and many of us now regret taking funds out when they could have been left where they were and added to later. Lots of women are now retiring into poverty because of this.

Best wishes

Margaret

dunstonh

Pensions can be moved easily enough. Although whether it is right to move it or not is a different matter.