HAVE YOU BEEN A MEMBER OF LOTS OF DIFFERENT PENSION SCHEMES?

DO NOT MISS A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
Pensions and particularly pension legislation can be incredibly boring for the lay-person but a clause
in recent legislation means that for many people there may be a short term opportunity to get more
tax free cash from one of their old pension plans. For this information to be of any use to you, there
are a number of criteria: you must be aged over 55 and willing to take pension benefits before
October 2015.
Many people have been employed by a series of companies throughout their working life and as a
result have built up a suit-case full of pension plans. If you were a member of an employer based
occupational scheme prior to April 2006 you may be entitled to a large amount of tax-free cash. For
membership after this date, the tax free cash will be based on 25% of the value of the pension fund.
If you left a scheme prior to 2006 you could  be entitled to a larger amount of tax-free cash and until
the passing of the Finance Act 2014, had you as an individual moved this scheme to a personal
pension or drawdown arrangement you would have lost the right to the  higher cash sum. Now
there is a window of opportunity, you can move to a personal pension or drawdown scheme and
retain a higher cash sum, but you must do this before April 2015.
If you were a member of an occupational scheme prior to 2006 and you think you may be entitled to
a higher tax free cash sum then get digging in your filing cabinet. As a first step you will need details
of the scheme you left and the benefits which are preserved for you.   Pensions’ legislation is
complex so you do need expert advice.  Do get in touch with us to see if this opportunity may apply
to you.