Advice On What To Do With 5 Small Work Pensions.

Smudgeismydog

OP when were you paying into the GE pension scheme?

It might be the £1,000 incentive you refer to, was a sweetener to people previously in a DB scheme, which closed, with subsequent provision under a DC arrangement.

mystic_bertie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948654#Comment_81948654

Many thanks for your reply it is much appreciated. I am not planning on taking any funds before 67 so my PIP and UC should be ok.

I believe the General Electric is a DC pension. When i was working there they gave everyone £1000 for changing the pension type. Everyone knew at the time, they knew what they were doing, we could not do anything about this.The other pensions are probably DC but i cannot find any proof of that using my online accounts.

As they are all DC i will probably just consolidate them all to the GE one. 😉

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81950231#Comment_81950231

It may be a DC pension but the information from your original post points towards it being a DB one. Especially the choice between a larger pension or smaller pension coupled with a specific lump sum.

A DC pension wouldn't have that option, you would simply have a pot value, 25% of which could be taken as a tax free lump sum (or 25% of each payment would tax free).

General Electric - £3513 paid in 2007 - £8,386.84 a year or £ 42,157.54 + £ 6,323.63 a year

mystic_bertie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948950#Comment_81948950

I believe the General Electric is a DC pension. When i was working there they gave everyone £1000 for changing the pension type. Everyone knew at the time, they knew what they were doing, we could not do anything about this.The other pensions are probably DC but i cannot find any proof of that using my online accounts.

Yeah the £8k per year is quite good and it will definately give things a boost. As they are all DC pensions i will probably consolidate them to the GE pension.😉

mystic_bertie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949387#Comment_81949387

Many thanks for your reply it is much appreciated.Towers Watson are the administers. WTW. I cant be certain but im sure it was referred to as a final salary pension, they were ditching that type of pension for one that was not final salary. I would need to ask all 5 providers is they are DC before i consolidate them all. Im assuming that they all are DC.

mystic_bertie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949405#Comment_81949405

Many thanks for your reply it is much appreciated. I was there from 1998 to 2008, i cant be certain but i was sure it was referred to as a final salary pension, there was a lot of companies trying to impose the non final salary pension on people at the time, thats why we got the £1000 bonus.

The GE pension only shows what was invested originally. There are no signs to say what the pension is invested in. I should probably contact them to see what type of pension it is.

I will also check to see if a transfer is possible or not. Thanks for the suggestions.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81950262#Comment_81950262

Final salary is a form of DB scheme. As someone has suggested it is possible you were asked to join the DC scheme for service after a certain date but the benefits for service before that date were left in the final salary scheme. Definitely ask GE (or their scheme administrators) to clarify. In 2008 when you left you should have received a leaver's statement - perhaps see if you can find that.

MallyGirl

I would have wanted a heck of a lot more than a thousand quid to convert a DB pension to DC and it would have been accompanied by a lot of paperwork explaining what you were giving up in exchange for a DC pot. It seems much more likely that they discontinued the final salary pension from a certain point and you had a DC pension after that - leaving the existing FS pension to carry on as per its original rules. Compared to your other pensions this could be really significant so you need to get to the bottom of what pension(s) you have from your GE service

xylophone

I cant be certain but im sure it was referred to as a final salary pension

According to the AI overview

As of early 2026, the final salary (defined benefit) pension schemes for General Electric (GE) in the UK are administered by

WTW (Willis Towers Watson), following a major restructuring of GE’s pension arrangements.

Are you able to log in to the pension portal?

xylophone

And do you have a statement of deferred benefits on leaving service and a copy of the scheme guide showing how benefits increase in deferment and in payment?