It is a legal requirement that to proceed with a transfer out, you must meet either condition 1 or condition 2.
Condition 1
If you are transferring to one of the following schemes, no further checks are needed.
- A public sector pension scheme as follows:
- Civil Service
- Armed Forces
- NHS
- Teachers
- Judicial Pension Scheme
- Police
- Firefighters
- Local Government.
- A Pensions Regulator authorised master trust
- A Pensions Regulator authorised collective defined contribution scheme.
We can proceed with the transfer when we have received all the complete and correct documentation.
Condition 2
If you are:
- not transferring to any of the schemes listed in condition 1, and
- transferring to an occupational scheme, whether in the UK or to a Qualifying Registered Overseas Pensions Scheme (QROPS), or
- transferring to a personal pension scheme,
you must provide documentation.
If you are transferring to a personal pension scheme, you must provide information about the scheme that you are transferring to.
If you are transferring to an occupational pension scheme, you must provide information about the scheme that you are transferring to and proof of your employment link to the scheme.
You must provide the following information:
- A letter from your employer confirming your continuous employment.
- This should include the date that your continuous employment began
- That they are a sponsoring employer of the receiving scheme
- Confirmation that contributions on the schedule of contributions have been paid
- The dates of those payments.
- A schedule of contributions or payment schedule showing the contributions due to be paid by the employer and by or on your behalf in the last 3 months and the dates these were paid.
- Payslips for 3 months, or other evidence in writing, confirming your salary (including any commission, bonuses or other amounts paid) is above the lower earnings limit for National Insurance.
- Copies of your bank or building society statements or passbook showing the deposit of salary from your employer for the last 3 months.
If you are transferring to a Qualifying Registered Overseas Pensions Scheme (QROPS) which is not an occupational scheme, you must prove your residency link to the same country in which your new scheme is based. You must provide the following information
- A certified copy of your formal residency documentation, and
- At least two other items of evidence that demonstrate you are resident on the date we received the transfer application. This evidence will vary depending on the country of residence but could include:
- utility bills
- TV subscriptions
- insurance documents relating to their overseas home
- the address registered on their driving licence
- bank account and credit card statements
- evidence of local tax being paid
- registration at that address with local doctors.
Find information about the other 2 items of residency evidence on the GOV.UK website
Documentation
We will write to you if we need you to provide the documentation and we may ask that you provide certified copies of some of these documents if required. You must provide all the documentation if requested.
Whether you are transferring to a personal or occupational pension scheme, you may need to provide further information about the scheme to which you are transferring. We will write to you regarding all information that we need.
If we flag any concerns regarding any of the information provided, we may need to request that you have a Pension wise appointment. Pension wise is a free, impartial service offered by the government website MoneyHelper.
If any of the documentation is not in English, you will be required to provide a certified translation by a professional translator.
Find out about certifying a document and a translation of a document