Small pension has to move but to where ?how

cathyI

Hi,
I'm looking for a little help /advice please .

Son was in employment with a civil service company for 22 months (so under the 2 yrs needed to leave his pension where it is ) and now has to either accept a cash amount or move it .
He would prefer to move it rather than lose money, but no-one seems to want it.
It appears to be a Defined Benefit pension scheme.

Transfer value is £6,535.91

Net cash refund would be £1,685.48

If more information needed please let me know ,thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer .

( son is not currently in employment )

p00hsticks

I was in a similar position a couple of years back. I simply opened a personal pension (in my case a SIPP with AVIVA) and got the money transferred into it. Despite some of the documentation I received from myCSP on leaving, if you've been there less than two years it doesn't need to go into a DB scheme, and it's considerably more money to do a transfer than to simply get a refund of contributions.

marlot

Can he not just put it with Hargreaves Lansdown or similar SIPP?

cathyI

Thank you ,so should he take the refund and open a personal pension or will he move the higher amount over ?

Just want to be clear that I pass on your advice correctly .

AnotherJoe

He shoudl move it eg the higher amount not take the refund !!!!!

cathyI

hi Marlot ,thank you for your reply .
I presume that is what he should do ,we are both total pension novices hence the original question . I think he got stumped by the wording on the paperwork he was sent .

cathyI

Thank you all ,I knew we'd get the answer quickly on mse

p00hsticks

cathyI wrote: »

Thank you ,so should he take the refund and open a personal pension or will he move the higher amount over ?

Just want to be clear that I pass on your advice correctly .

No, he shouldn't take the refund - that will just be his own contributions. The transfer value represents his total pension value, including employer contributions - that's why it's so much higher.

He needs to open a personal pension and then transfer the amount over into it.

Here's the thread from when I was in a similar position

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5561152

cathyI

Excellant ,thank you . Ill have a read now

atush

cathyI wrote: »

Thank you ,so should he take the refund and open a personal pension or will he move the higher amount over ?

Just want to be clear that I pass on your advice correctly .

No, you dont get a refund. You Transfer the pension.

Find the new provider, get the forms, fill them out, then the new provider does the work.

Brynsam

Just one extra thought....but check how long a window your son has to make his decision (and act on it!).

Does his pension paperwork have the words 'public sector transfer club' on it? If so, and if he is likely to be going back into employment with another public sector employer before his 'decision window' closes, he may be better transferring to his new employer's scheme.

I appreciate this all sounds horribly complicated. If you need to talk it through, TPAS is your starting point: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk for free, impartial and non-sales help.