"Should I amalgamate or transfer pension funds?"

A point that came up on this in a similar topic on here recently was that if you leave a job after less than two years, employers are entitled to take bake any employer contributions to your pension fund. The consensus was that in such an instance where you were thinking of leaving a job before having two year's service, that it may well be worthwhile transferring any pensions you had previously to the newer scheme. I'm not sure whether this was just in the hope that as the amounts would be larger and someone wouldn't notice to get the contributions back or whether trasferring in previous pension amounts somehow negates the employer of this right.
 
Alkers86 said:
A point that came up on this in a similar topic on here recently was that if you leave a job after less than two years, employers are entitled to take bake any employer contributions to your pension fund. The consensus was that in such an instance where you were thinking of leaving a job before having two year's service, that it may well be worthwhile transferring any pensions you had previously to the newer scheme. I'm not sure whether this was just in the hope that as the amounts would be larger and someone wouldn't notice to get the contributions back or whether trasferring in previous pension amounts somehow negates the employer of this right.
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@Brendan Burgess - Thank you.

@Alkers86 - If a pension scheme accepts a transfer value from a previous scheme, they are also accepting your service in the previous scheme. So if you had 1.5 years in the previous scheme and 1 year in the current one, your combined service is 2.5 years and so the refund option no longer applies, for either you or your employer.

Random but relevant points - That two year rule relates to number of years in the pension scheme, not number of years with the employer.

When setting up a pension scheme, the employer and trustees have discretion about how to set up this rule. Some employers arrange it so that if you leave the scheme in less than two years, this automatically triggers a refund for both you and employer. Others will allow you to keep the employer contributions if you leave the fund as a pension benefit and only take back their own contributions if you choose to take the refund.

The two year rule only applies to Occupational Pension Schemes and not to PRSAs, including Employer Group PRSAs. With any type of PRSA, employer and employee contributions become your property as soon as they are made and cannot be taken back, even if you leave within the two years.
 
Interesting article, thanks for posting. I hadn't realised you could retire a few times!

Is it possible to transfer a pension to your spouse when creating a buy out bond/personal retirement bond? If it was, it would allow each of us take 25% of my total pension pot, so I cant imagine it is possible. Just wondering how one could get more out of pension tax free where only one of the couple have a significant pension.
 
DundrumQ said:
Is it possible to transfer a pension to your spouse when creating a buy out bond/personal retirement bond? If it was, it would allow each of us take 25% of my total pension pot, so I cant imagine it is possible. Just wondering how one could get more out of pension tax free where only one of the couple have a significant pension.
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It's not possible to transfer a pension fund to your spouse as you describe. If the spouse has earned income, you can pay for a pension in their name ... as in you give your spouse the money and they put it into a pension, but that's about it.
 
LDFerguson said:
It's not possible to transfer a pension fund to your spouse as you describe. If the spouse has earned income, you can pay for a pension in their name ... as in you give your spouse the money and they put it into a pension, but that's about it.
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Ok thanks for the response.
 
LDFerguson said:
@Brendan Burgess - Thank you.

@Alkers86 - If a pension scheme accepts a transfer value from a previous scheme, they are also accepting your service in the previous scheme. So if you had 1.5 years in the previous scheme and 1 year in the current one, your combined service is 2.5 years and so the refund option no longer applies, for either you or your employer.

Random but relevant points - That two year rule relates to number of years in the pension scheme, not number of years with the employer.

When setting up a pension scheme, the employer and trustees have discretion about how to set up this rule. Some employers arrange it so that if you leave the scheme in less than two years, this automatically triggers a refund for both you and employer. Others will allow you to keep the employer contributions if you leave the fund as a pension benefit and only take back their own contributions if you choose to take the refund.

The two year rule only applies to Occupational Pension Schemes and not to PRSAs, including Employer Group PRSAs. With any type of PRSA, employer and employee contributions become your property as soon as they are made and cannot be taken back, even if you leave within the two years.
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Thanks for that, I have just transferred for this very reason - happy to hear the full reasoning behind it as I was taking a bit of a gamble of it paying off in my head.
 
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