British Pensions - Are We Going To Lose Them?

[piggybank]

Hi everyone,

My wife said a few weeks ago that she read an article saying something to the effect that if you are expecting to receive a British pension (even though you may now be a dual citizen) in the future you should get in touch with the British government to see if you will still qualify for one in the future.

The wife got the details of some company that is doing this on peoples behalf but I'm very skeptical especially as he is a "FINANCIAL ADVISER":1zhelp:

Hi Billy,

It's Fred from XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX here - you recently downloaded information about transferring your UK Pension from our website (www.agoodmove.com.au).

Despite the high volume of queries we are receiving, we will endeavour to contact you within 5 business days. Alternatively, if you would like to contact me eariler please call me on 0400 544 515.

If you wish to start the initial fact finding process prior to our discussion, I have attached our Financial Services Guide (FSG) and a Data Collection Form (DCF). If you have a NHS Pension please complete the attached NHS Data Collection Form (please leave Part B regarding the receiving scheme blank this will be dealt with later).

The DCF enables us to talk to the UK Scheme and prepare a comparative analysis contrasting your position if the funds are transferred to Australia or left in the UK. The report will also explore all of the associated issues (including death benefits, tax, exchange rates etc.). We then present / discuss or post these reports. You will then be in a good position to make an informed decision as to whether a transfer is appropriate. There are no upfront fees and you are not committed to transferring.

If you wish, can you please;
Print out, complete your details, sign and date the DCF. We require a seperate DCF for each of your pension scheme. If you find that you cannot provide all of the information we require on the form; don’t worry, send it back to me completed as well as you can and I will ring you if there is anything else I may need. Not all fields are essential.

Please scan and email a copy of the signed forms to joebloggs@finsecpartners.com.au and post all pages (must be signed originals) to:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Pty Ltd
PO Box XXXX
WEST PERTH WA 6872

If possible please also include a copy of a recent statement from the scheme and any other documents you think may be useful.

I look forward to speaking to you.

Kind regards,

Hopefully I haven't mislead anyone but the wife has been getting on my back to sort it out before I lose out on any money I am entitled to even if it is several years away before I retire. If anyone would be as kind enough to explain what this is all about I would really appreciate it - especially as it would get the wife off my back!!

Thanking those in advance for your help.

Regards
PB - David

 

[qldfrog]

smells like a scam.
nowhere does it says /implies you have to do this now or ever
anyway i let people who know more but I suspect your better half has just been scared for a purpose.

 

[CanOz]

This must be a scam...do some googling on this, talk to your accountant...i'm 90% sure this is just a way to get your pension handed over to someone else... This crap just doesn't add up, wh would they not use the proper name for the biz, why move so many times in a couple of years, why is it not incorporated when they say it was...

 

[nulla nulla]

Surely the first step to determine whether or not this was genuine or a scam would be for you to contact the British Consulate and establish with them as to whether there are any changes underway or pending for recipients of British pensions living abroad.

 

[jmoz]

lol I love it. From a financial adviser so it must be a scam!

The changes are relating to your ability transfer your UK final salary pension schemes over to an Aussie super fund. There are a lot of benefits to doing this if someone plans to live in Aus for the rest of their life, but as a lot of the government ones are unfunded they are putting a stop on it. It will come into effect April 6th, and if you haven't had a payout figure calculated yet then it's basically too late. You will still likely get the pension when you are eligible (or some form of it) but it will be assessed as foreign earned income here in Australia regardless of your age.

A great example of how a financial adviser can help with something COMPLETELY removed from investment returns/choices etc.

Cheers

http://www.afr.com/p/asset/time_is_running_out_for_uk_pension_aVbx5BErTJzzEJF9LClbJO

 

[Joe Blow]

A SMH article about this topic: http://www.smh.com.au/money/super-a...sfer-of-british-pensions-20150209-1373ig.html

 

[Hodgie]

I don't understand why people assume a scam, the OP said that the financial planning firm and the article were 2 separate and unrelated things. Simply because a financial planning firm says that they can help out with an issue that they clearly specialise in, it's suddenly a scam. This seem illogical considering that it is exactly the sort of thing you would want a financial planner for.

 

[Vixs]

I don't know if anyone's keyboards were broken in the onslaught they unleashed on them as they furiously typed that it's all a shady scam, I hope if so that the damage wasn't too severe.

Pension Transfers Direct are a third party that many many many financial planners use to assist with UK Pension transfers, including some of the large financial institutions.

The reason there is some urgency around it is due to the cutoff date fast approaching as a result of new legislation in the UK. If you have a public sector pension it's probably already too late as many requests are taking months to process. I know that the bank I work for has been saying no to advising on these for a month now. Private sector pensions may not be affected, but I don't know that for sure as most of the people I've seen seeking advice on this were doctors/nurses/teachers and so have only really seen the government side of things.

There are many good reasons someone moving away from the UK might want to migrate their pension. Currency risk and legislation risk are two pretty obvious ones - it's hard to rely on an income in GBP to pay for your retirement in AUD, and there aren't many better examples of legislative risk than "No you can't have access to that money anymore, we've changed our mind."

 

[piggybank]

Hi,

I would just like to thank those members who so kindly took time out of their busy schedule to reply to my queries - it was very much appreciated.

Given that I start a new job on Monday, I don't have the time or inclination to follow up especially as it appears it would already be too late to apply even a month ago. I will just have to accept it will be assessed as foreign earned income here in Australia (as pointed out by jmoz) or (if I make it to retirement) I may leave it in a British bank or building society and spend it when I go over there.

Thanks once again to those contributors.

Cheers
PB

 

[noirua]

State Pension if you've lived in Australia, Canada or New Zealand

Changes to how your UK State Pension is calculated if you live in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and previously lived in Australia, Canada or New Zealand.

www.gov.uk

 

[noirua]

The UK state pension only increases by the rate of inflation in the following places:
The UK
European Economic Area (EEA)
What countries are EEA?
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Gibraltar
Switzerland
Countries with a social security agreement with the UK (but not *Canada or New Zealand).
The UK has agreements for social security contributions and benefit entitlement with Ireland and the following countries that are outside the EU, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland: Barbados. Bermuda. *Canada.