About Your Benefits

Transfers

Transferring out of the MPS

If your MPS benefits are not yet in payment, and subject to certain limits, you can transfer the cash value of your Scheme benefits to:

  • another registered pension scheme in the UK, or

  • certain overseas schemes - as long as the managers of such an arrangement are willing and able to accept the transfer.

    • The amount available for transfer is called a cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) and will vary depending on your age, gender and current market rates. The CETV payment will be used to provide additional benefits in the receiving arrangement.

    For more information, you can contact the Administration Office about a transfer. They will provide a quotation of the CETV together with details of the Scheme benefits you would be giving up by transferring. You can ask for a CETV quotation once a year any time up to one year before your full MPS pension is due to start. In most cases, CETV quotations will be guaranteed for three months. Once this period has expired, the CETV must be re-calculated using up to date factors, and the amount of CETV payable may change.

    If you are thinking about transferring to any other pension arrangement you should consider your options carefully and think about independent financial advice. If you transfer out of the MPS, you will give up all rights to benefit from the Scheme.

    Transfers into the MPS

    Following privatisation, transfers into the MPS were no longer accepted.

    However, in the 1980s and early 1990s, many members of occupational schemes were advised by personal pension salesmen to transfer their benefits out of the MPS. This advice was later found to be inappropriate for some members. In such cases, the Trustees’ policy was to allow reinstatement, providing the personal pension provider met the full cost. This option was withdrawn from 1 October 2009. Any former MPS member, who believes he may have been badly advised to leave the Scheme, should contact his personal pension provider to determine whether compensation may be payable.

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