Previous employer pension switch

arlenet593

Hello,

I find myself here because im completely cluless when it comes to pensions! I worked for Santander and left March 2014, a few months later i received a letter stating i had £800+ in a pension and what would i like to do with it. It says i can switch to another provider or receive cash, if i do the latter id only receive £125 so obviously i dont want to do that.

I should add, i'm 25, now a stay at home mum, my partner supports us. I have no other pensions and no idea how i go about switching this money to a new provider. I have until the end of this month to do it or they automatically send the £125 to my bank account- i dont want this!

Id like a plan where i only pay say £20 a month at the moment into it, is this possible? Who is best to go with? Please help me and thanks in advance

xylophone

Maybe transfer the pension to a simple stakeholder and continue to contribute up to £2880 a year while you have no relevant earnings?

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/aviva/

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief

for information.

arlenet593

thank you i will have a look at those links as i have no idea what you are talking about haha many thanks

xylophone

If you go with Cavendish, you will see that there is information on what you will need to send if you wish to transfer your pension.

Some information re stakeholder here https://www.gov.uk/personal-pensions-your-rights/stakeholder-pensions

If you wish to contribute only £20 a month a stakeholder would suit.

If you are a non earner, you can still receive tax relief (look at it as a contribution from the government to your pension!) on contributions of up to £3600 gross (£2880 net) a year.

If you contribute your £20 a month, the pension provider will claim £5 and add it to your pension.

Clearly these are tiny amounts but you can contribute more/vary your contributions as you go on.

When you take up employment again it may be possible for you to transfer the plan to your new employer's scheme or you could
simply leave it where it is and continue to contribute or not as you wished.

And regarding new state pension https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview