Teachers Pension Refunds before 2016

Hey_Jude_UK

xylophone said:

I’m 38 and have a nest pension, local government pension, civil service pension and one more. Yes I am currently paying into a pension.

With regard to LGPS, CS and TPS, all three are public service defined benefit pensions.

If you left TPS to go straight on to CS or LGPS, it would have been possible for you to apply to transfer TPS to either of these 

arrangements had you applied within one year of joining.

If you joined a DC scheme immediately on leaving TPS, as your pension was unvested at that stage, it would have been possible to ask 

your DC scheme to take a transfer of your benefits or to take a refund of contributions.

As things stand, it seems likely that you have deferred Defined Benefit pensions with TPS, LGPS and CS.

If you join another Defined Benefit Scheme in the future, it may be possible to transfer in these pensions.

You will not be able to transfer TPS or CS to anything other than a DB Scheme.

This is not the case for LGPS but depending on the value of the LGPS, very expensive advice from a Pension Transfer Specialist could be required.

With regard to NEST and "one more", NEST is a DC pension.

What kind of pension is "one more"?

And to what kind of pension are you currently contributing?

Have you checked your state pension forecast?

What is the COPE shown? (Click on link "you have been contracted out....").

My current pension is CS. The 'one more' is Royal London but it was for a very short period of work. 

In a nutshell, I started to trace all my pensions a few months ago so I know where they all are. I never planned to take money out of the pensions but, the TPS led me to believe the pension was not valid and thus I had no other option.  I think my window to transfer into other pensions is gone therefore I requested a refund. 

To be honest, from everything said on this thread, I think the best option is to keep the pensions where they are and just ensure I keep track of them. Would you agree? 

Yes, I have checked the state pension and am aware of that. 

And thank you so much for all the advice, it's very much appreciated. 

xylophone

Have you looked at the charges on NEST and RL and looked at the investment choices available?

You might want to consider a transfer of one to the other for convenience.  I imagine internet access will be available so that you can keep an eye on what is going on.

You can sign up for internet access to the other three DB pensions and keep a record as you go - it might be as well to screen shot any

annual statements that are produced and hold them in a pensions file.