UK Frozen Pensions

Do you have any "frozen, paid-up personal or occupational" pension schemes in the UK ?
If so the following may be of interest!

If you have a paid-up or frozen pension back in the UK then MONTPELIER can help you find out if your pension(s) may be better placed else where.

Many people who leave Britain to live and work overseas do so leaving behind their accumulated pension benefits from a former employed or self-employed situation. Recent changes in legislation now make it more attractive to accumulate all of these previous schemes into one personal pension plan from which the benefits can be taken from the age of 50.

If your plan has one (or more!) of the features in the 'old style' plan it may be in your interest to have your plan reviewed.

Old Plan:

• High ongoing charges, 5-7% Bid/offer?
• Inflexible, locked into pre-set retirement dates.
• Limited range of funds which may not be performing well.

New Plan:

• Low ongoing charges max 1% pa.
• Flexibility: to suit you and your needs
• A range of good performing funds with links to specialist fund managers.

Indeed, a relaxation in the rules surrounding the tax free cash that can be taken from the transferred pensions makes this course of action well worth considering.

Upgrade your pension - for little or no cost!

MONTPELIER are able to provide you with a full transfer benefits analysis of your previous pension schemes and a firm recommendation as to whether this course of action is in your interests. Initially we need to have details of all previous occupational and personal pensions you may have held in the United Kingdom and from that point on you can leave the rest to us.

A free evaluation service will detail all options available to you including the possibility of taking 25% of the fund as a Tax Free Lump Sum at the age of 50.

For more information on the MONTPELIER Frozen Pension Analysis Service, please contact us by clicking on the link to the left.

Please note that after May 6th UK Pension A Day will come into force, which will present a number of new opportunities for British expatriates. Please watch this space for further details or email us and request more information as when it becomes available.

If you are currently going through the process of leaving your company you may have heard of a preserved or frozen pension. Below we look at preserved or frozen pensions in more detail.

Preserved or Frozen Pensions in the Modern World

In this modern world people seem to think little of changing their jobs, heralding many to claim that the days of 'a job for life' are over. Indeed even the present-day employers seem to be looking for employees with a mixed experience of employers. For many of those who are changing their jobs frequently they seem to be leaving a mountain of preserved or frozen pensions in their wake as they start a new company pension with their next employer. So what exactly is a preserved or frozen pension?

Preserved or Frozen Pensions - On Leaving Your Job

When you leave a job and go onto a new one you have two choices as to what to do with your existing company pension:

• You can decide to leave the benefits of the company pension scheme within that scheme as you may be entitled to receive the benefits from the scheme at a later date. This is known as a Preserved or Frozen Pension.
• Or you can decide to transfer the benefits to the new company's pension scheme. This is known as a Personal Pension Transfer.

You should be presented with an annual illustration on leaving the company which outlines what the benefits and projections of income within the preserved or frozen pension, enabling you to plan ahead for your additional pension arrangements.

Preserved or Frozen Pensions - The Frozen Fund

Once your pension is preserved or frozen, you are then unable to make any further pension contributions. "Preserved or Frozen" means that the scheme is still in existence, but no contributions are being paid in and there is no further build-up of pension entitlement taking place. The funds that you and your employer have made previously now make up the fund's total investment, and whilst it will continue to grow in line with the general fund, you cannot add to the capital.

Preserved or Frozen Pensions - The Future

By ensuring that you leave your existing company with an annual statement you are in effect documenting your preserved or frozen pension. It is therefore important that you file this documentation away in a safe place so that you can call on it when you get to an age where you want to begin drawing your pension or your beneficiaries can find it should you die before you reach that age. It is important that you do this to ensure that the contributions which you have made into the preserved or frozen fund reach your hands when you retire.

 

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