Amongst the details released in the UK Budget, on 19th March 2014, the Government outlined its intention to ban pension transfers from Public Sector Pension Schemes.
Following the draft legislation, published by the UK Government on 6th August 2014, the message has been clarified that transfers will no longer be permitted from the following public sector schemes in the future:
• NHS
• Teachers
• Civil Service
• Police
• Armed Forces
• Firefighters
Although the ban on transfers from the above Public Sector Pension Schemes did not come into effect to coincide with the publishing of the draft legislation (as was rumoured from some sources), the possibility still remains that the ban could still come into force before 6th April 2015.
Global QROPS anticipates that further clarification will be revealed in HM Treasury’s 2014 Autumn Statement. However, if any new details emerge before this statement we will update this in our news items.
What is clear, however, is that there is still a limited window of opportunity to request a transfer value from any of the above schemes.
If a UK pension transfer to Australia (or anywhere else overseas) is not possible, then the ability of retiring in the same currency as the country in which you’re living will not be available – leaving a UK pension member exposed to exchange rate fluctuations on their retirement income. Crucially, receiving UK pension income, whilst living overseas, may not be as tax efficient as taking the benefits from an overseas scheme, either.
If you are a member of any above pension scheme, please contact us for a free initial assessment and we can talk you through your options.
