Lots of tiny pensions

rustywallet

I have quite a lot of really small pensions. Where I'm working now (council) may be able to consolidate for me. I have one for 4 years (social housing) which is the largest £600 and some that are literally £50 or less! I don't even know where to begin. 

Marcon

rustywallet said:

I have quite a lot of really small pensions. Where I'm working now (council) may be able to consolidate for me. I have one for 4 years (social housing) which is the largest £600 and some that are literally £50 or less! I don't even know where to begin. 

Start here: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3550085/STEVE-WEBB-merge-small-pension-pots.html

Brie

First ask the council pension scheme if they accept transfers in.  Then get all of them transferred in so they are all in one spot.  This will mean contacting each scheme and requesting a transfer.  If they won't accept them for any reason then you might want to set up a private pension somewhere to hold them all.  Only issue might be if any are defined benefit schemes which can be difficult to transfer.  

If any were of a significant size I'd suggest perhaps leaving those separate so you have a bit of flexibility but that doesn't seem to apply.  Worst case scenario now is that you (or your family or heirs) will lose track of where everything is and no one will claim the pensions.  I know some would say "what does it matter, it's only £50?" but it's YOUR £50 which you earned so you might as well benefit from it.  

Grumpy_chap

rustywallet said:

I have quite a lot of really small pensions. Where I'm working now (council) may be able to consolidate for me. I have one for 4 years (social housing) which is the largest £600 and some that are literally £50 or less! I don't even know where to begin. 

Are you saying the total value of the pension pots is £600 (or £50 or wherever in between)?
OR are you saying these pensions forecast to pay out £600 (or...) per year?

Are the small pensions DB or DC?

There is a sound rationale to combining the small pensions - bulked up they may generate better investment returns, they will be easier to keep track of. 
You need to be mindful that any fees to transfer don't negate the value of the pensions in their entirety.
Another factor worth considering is whether you wish to take advantage of the "small pots" rules in the case of any of these smaller pensions.

squirrelpie

I thought that you only need to contact the pension you are transferring into to request a transfer?

And I think it should be easily possible to find a pension provider where transfers in are free?

LHW99

If the council does say no, you could always open a personal pension or SIPP and get them all transferred in there. You might even later on add a bit to that combined pot.

MallyGirl

squirrelpie said:

I thought that you only need to contact the pension you are transferring into to request a transfer?

And I think it should be easily possible to find a pension provider where transfers in are free?

It is different if the receiving pension is defined benefit/final salary as they might not accept transfers in

penners324

First step - contact current workplace pension to see if they'll do it for you.

If not - open a private pension/ SIPP with a company like PensionBee (others exist but this company is easy to deal with for transfers). Then request the transfers through that company 

Silvertabby

Another vote for transferring the whole lot to the LGPS (if they accept DC transfers in - not all employers do).  The LGPS transfer in factors are on the generous side, and you'll only have one pension fund to keep track of instead of several tiny ones.

There will be a lot of paperwork involved, but stick with it.  And note that transfers in must at least start during your first 12 months of LGPS membership, so don't dilly dally.

rustywallet

Thanks everyone. I am going to transfer it all in to one. I've spent a day phoning them all! Actually some of them were bigger than expected  

LHW99

rustywallet said:

Thanks everyone. I am going to transfer it all in to one. I've spent a day phoning them all! Actually some of them were bigger than expected  

May relate to the idea that putting in the money and not doing much fiddling can be at least as good as changing to constantly capture the last 0.1% reduction in fees.