Company scheme to be moved to "Master Trust Pension" scheme

Mistermeaner

Hi

My current employer is undergoing a consultation process regards the workplace pension, part of which is intended to facilitate the move of existing DC pension scheme from company "Trigon/XPS" to a (as yet not identified) "Master Pension Trust"

I would generally be happy to move to a 'better' scheme as Trigon/XPS are stuck in the dark ages with no web portal and limited fund choice, but would be interested in any comments / thoughts regards "Master Pension Trusts" as these are not something i have heard of before

For context I am 42,  have a DC pot of £450K from a previous employer with scottish widows which i have left there as its low cost, easy to manage and has a decent selection of funds

In the Trigon/XPS scheme for my current employer I have around £120K invested in the most global fund they offer

I generally pay in the max 40K per annum and intend to continue doing so until I get nearer to the lifetime allowance

Thanks

dunstonh

but would be interested in any comments / thoughts regards "Master Pension Trusts" as these are not something i have heard of before

In terms of pension functionality and rules, its identical to other money purchase schemes.    Most master trust schemes are comparable to stakeholder pensions in terms of fund selection.

gm0

We had an occupational trust.  A master trust was added alongside rather than full migration in order to add drawdown features
I  believe both variants can happen.  This happened at a periodic reletting by trustees of the admin contract. 

So ours is a transfer across when entering drawdown - effectively the same as going somewhere else via cash transfer.  I can see a summary about both in the same web portal and as I retain the old occupational for part of the fund this arrangement suits me despite the restricted choice.

The master trust had about twice the investment range - choice of funds of the old occupational - about 30 funds vs 15.  This is negotiated with the provider and the trustees.

But one or two of the most aggressively priced (cheap) legacy funds from the old occupational were not available in the new one something that was skipped over in communications when migration was announced as a positive thing. 

The fact it was for drawdown only not all employees probably helped enable this "retirement" of some 1980s/1990s offers.

But still perfectly adequate for a range of mainstream portfolios - better than what I had before.

Costs will depend on the deal done by your trustees. It could be excellent value or bang average vs a consumer SIPP offering a lot more choice.  Platform fee equivalent, fund offer.

Arrangements will vary but my understanding is that our MT is still 100% insured vs the 85k SIPP wrapper offered by transfer out to HL, Fidelity etc. 

Both use essentially the same fund custody arrangements so this legal difference is not viewed as material by most people

A number of the master trust providers are old life companies who don't do snazzy online either.  Mine is poor. 

So I am not wild about the digital offering (use trustnet to monitor in greater detail).