Civil Service Pension v SIPP

bulbsie

Hi,
I’m 37 years old and have a preserved ‘Classic’ Civil Service Pension fund of approximately £20000 and an additional £1500 held by Windsor Life. Would I be completely foolish to consider transferring the bulk of these amounts to a low cost eSIPP given on one hand the uncertain long term future of Civil Service pensions and increased investment freedom/ potential growth, whilst on the other the risk of being exposed to the open market and declining annuity returns (although I may consider drawing on the fund before purchasing such a thing)?
If this wouldn’t be to barmy an idea what would be a good home for the £3000 protected rights bit that may not be accepted by this type of scheme. Should I additionally consider a more comprehensive SIPP that would accept these and later transferable SERPS contributions?
Thank you for any help.

dunstonh

Would I be completely foolish to consider transferring the bulk of these amounts to a low cost eSIPP

Yes. Very.

and declining annuity returns

They have risen in each of the last 3 years and are at their highest level for seven years.

Andy_L

What he said, doubled :-)

m_c_s

bulbsie wrote: »

the uncertain long term future of Civil Service pensions

I am not sure the future of the civil service pension is uncertain. The new pensions recently introduced go someway to address a number of issues. For new entrants the nuvos scheme is a higher contribution scheme with a retirement age of 65.
The Civil service pension (defined and not the partnership scheme) is still worth a lot of many and makes up for low pay.

Andy_L

Past service is, as in the private sector, protected by law. In fact as a deferred member you got a better increase in your pension (rpi increase of ~4.5%) compared to active members (~2.5% salary increase)