Transfer your pensions

Transfer your pension to Fidelity in three simple steps.

• Step 1: We’ll ask you for your details and those of your current pension provider(s). You can transfer up to ten pensions at a time.
• Step 2: You can choose your investments when you apply, during the transfer process, or once we receive your transfer application. If the investments you hold in your existing pension are offered by us and your existing pension provider allows the transfer, we can move your pension into the same funds that you currently hold. If not, you can choose to have your investments transferred to the Fidelity SIPP as cash, and then you can decide.
• Step 3: Review your details and confirm the transfer.

When we receive your transfer application we’ll send you a confirmation, then contact your providers to arrange for your investments (or cash) to be brought into your Fidelity account. Please be aware that you may be out of the market while the transfer takes place, so you could miss out on any growth or income that occurs while we complete your request.

Before you apply to transfer a pension you’ve taken retirement benefits from, you must speak to Fidelity’s Retirement Service. They’ll discuss the transfer with you and prepare the application form.

We’re unable to accept an online application for these types of transfer.

• Applying online only takes a few minutes.
• The transfer should take about 10 working days, if your current provider acts promptly and has signed up to an industry-accepted, paperless transfer service; if the provider hasn’t signed up for paperless transfer it could take up to 10 weeks, possibly more.
• You can view your order for each transfer request and track its progress online; for example, you can see if we’re waiting for the company you’re moving from to send us information or a payment.
• Please remember that, once the transfer has begun, you may be unable to switch, top up or sell the investments you’re moving, until the process is complete.

When you move your investments (minimum of £1,000) to us, we’ll reimburse any exit fees that your former providers charge you, up to a maximum of £500 per customer. Of course, you need to decide whether these fees will impact the future value of your pension.

Read the terms and conditions

Download and complete the short Exit Fees Reimbursement Form

Send the form to us at:
Fidelity International,
P.O. Box 80,
Tonbridge,
Kent
TN11 9YA.

Please remember, you still need to complete the transfer application process online and qualify for the reimbursement.

Yes

• If the transfer is from another pension provider and you’re going to immediately start taking money from it, the minimum is £50,000.
• For all other transfers the minimum is £1,000. This includes:
  • a cash-only transfer
  • a combination of cash and existing pension funds
  • a pension that you’re already taking money from
  • an existing pension fund whether it is all of your fund holdings or a selection.
• If you have an existing Fidelity SIPP and want to transfer other pensions into it, unless you’re not already taking, or are about to take, money from them, the minimum transfer amount is £1,000.

You can transfer a wide range of pensions to Fidelity.

• Personal pensions
• Self-Invested Personal Pensions
• Stakeholder pensions
• Defined-contribution occupational schemes
• Pension schemes already paying a retirement income (pension drawdown plans)
• Free-standing additional voluntary contribution (FSAVC) plans
• Executive pension plans (EPPs)
• Section 32 (buyout) plans
• Defined benefit schemes (for example final salary pension schemes). Please read the next question regarding advice requirements for this type of pension.

If you are in any doubt about the suitability of a pension transfer or investment you should speak to an authorised financial adviser.

A pension that contains any kind of promise or guarantee requires careful consideration. This is because such benefits are normally lost once you transfer and cannot usually be reinstated. The value of some benefits can be substantial and a transfer, giving them up, may prove to be both costly and inappropriate.

We may, at our discretion, accept a transfer from a pension that contains such benefits, provided that our requirements have been met.

Generally, for transfers containing safeguarded benefits, we will require confirmation that you have received appropriate financial advice and that the advice confirmed it was in your best interests to transfer. Without this, the transfer to us cannot proceed.

See ‘What are safeguarded benefits?’ further down the page for more information about these.

For transfers containing other benefits we will need you to provide confirmation that you are aware of the benefit you will be giving up by transferring but that you still wish to proceed.

See ‘What are other benefits?’ further down the page for more information about these.

For more information on your options and to discuss what we may need from you in order for the transfer to proceed, you can contact us on 0800 368 1722.

If you are unsure about the type of pension you currently hold and what benefits are available to you, contact the provider of the pension. We believe that it is essential that you receive financial advice in order to make an informed decision.

These generally offer a guaranteed level of income at retirement or provide a promise about the rate of secure pension income that may be obtained from your pension pot at a future date, typically upon retirement.

They are typically found in older policies and are often valuable today as many were written at a time when interest rates were much higher and people weren’t living as long. With lower interest rates and higher life-expectancy, the guaranteed income from these plans is often much better than you could buy if you shopped around.

From a Fidelity perspective we generally consider the following to be safeguarded benefits:

• Any defined benefit pension (for example a final salary or career average scheme)
  These pay a retirement income based on your salary and how long you’ve worked for your employer. They are generally only available from public sector or older workplace pension schemes.
• Any pension arrangement that contains a guaranteed annuity rate (GAR) valued at £30,000 or more
  This is a valuable guaranteed income sometimes offered by your own pension scheme or provider if you take a lifetime annuity with them. A GAR is likely to provide a higher guaranteed income than would normally be available on the open market.
• Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) or Reference Scheme Test benefits (RST)
  If you have a GMP or RST, you originally built up pension rights in an employer’s scheme that was contracted out of the Additional State Pension.
  When this happened the new scheme had to promise to provide you with a pension broadly equivalent to the state pension you would have received under the Additional State Pension.
  You may not be able to take these benefits early unless the pension pot is already large enough to cover the cost of providing the pension.

Similarly, you may not be able to transfer a pension containing GMP or RST to another scheme unless the transfer value also covers the cost of providing the GMP or RST. When you transfer a pension containing GMP or RST to another pension scheme, that scheme has no obligation to provide benefits on the same basis.

The lists above are not exhaustive and you should research the benefits available to you within your existing pension before you request a transfer.

These generally do not provide guarantees of future income at retirement but may still be valuable.

From a Fidelity perspective, examples of such benefits include:

• Protected tax-free cash (you can take more than the normal 25% of your fund as tax-free cash);
• Protected pension age (you can access your pension earlier than age 55);
• Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR) valued at less than £30,000 (likely to provide a higher guaranteed income than would normally be available on the open market);
• Guaranteed investment returns (a guaranteed fixed increase on your money each year regardless of investment performance);
• With-profits bonuses (if you are invested in a with-profits fund, you may benefit from annual and terminal/maturity bonuses depending on the underlying investment performance. You should consider how a transfer and the timing of it will impact the payment of those bonuses).

The above list is not exhaustive and you should research the benefits available to you within your existing pension before you request a transfer.

Safeguarded benefits

For a low-cost, fixed fee, our specialists at Fidelity’s Retirement Service can give you personal advice about transferring your pension. Call us on 0800 084 5045 to discuss your needs. We’ll base our recommendation on careful analysis of the value of your transfer in relation to your personal circumstances and goals.

If you prefer, you can choose your own adviser and get them to complete and return the Third Party Advice Declaration to us, so we can process your request.

If you need help finding a financial adviser, the Money Advice Service provides an online directory of regulated advisers: https://directory.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en

Other benefits

If your pension contains ‘other benefits’ but you still want to proceed with transferring your pension you can complete and return the Confirmation of benefits form to us so we can process your request.

If we identify any valuable benefits during the transfer process we’ll notify you and explain what we need from you before we can continue with your application. However, this could delay us in processing your application.

For free, independent and impartial information and guidance on workplace and personal pension matters you can visit www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk.