Employer contacts LPPA
The employer contacts us to make us aware that a new member has joined the scheme.
Transfers in
The information below is designed to help you understand the transfer process and the timescales when supporting your clients - along with some useful links and resources.
Rather than managing multiple pensions, your clients may ask you to transfer their benefits from a previous plan into their current scheme. The timeline below explains how the process works.
What to expect from the transfers in process
Step 1
Step 2
LPPA sends Pension forms to member
A welcome pack and member declaration form is sent to the member to complete within 12 months.
Step 3
LPPA contacts previous providers
Once the member declaration form is received, we contact the previous pension providers (this can take at least 3 months) and (if the schemes are compatible), ask the for the value of your benefits. If it’s a previous LGPS, Police or Fire Services scheme, we simply link the records.
Step 4
LPPA sends the transfer quote
We write to the member with the transfer quote, which must be issued within three months of the member declaration form being received.
Step 5
IFA submits Letter of Authority (LoA)
An LoA can be submitted by the IFA, requesting information about the member account. Even so, please be aware that all information requests will still be sent directly back to the member.
Step 6
LPPA confirms transfer
Once the member has confirmed that they are happy with the transfer quote, the transfer will be arranged by LPPA.
Step 7
Important: more than 12 months rule
If it has been more than 12 months since a member has joined the scheme and they want to transfer a pension in, the member will need to make a request in writing (giving the reasons why it is outside of the 12 month window).
The decision is at the discretion of the employer and normally under extreme circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
The rules often vary, but in theory, they can transfer their benefits from any of the following schemes:
- A previous pension in England or Wales
- Any other public service pension scheme
- A personal or stakeholder pension plan
- An Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) pension
- Some overseas pension plans
We can only accept transfers from HMRC approved pension schemes (any that aren’t approved by HMRC cannot be accepted for potential money laundering reasons).
Plus, we are unable to transfer a ‘pension credit’ – a share of an ex-partner’s pension that has been awarded following a divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership.
Public sector pensions are usually very similar. If they decide to transfer or combine their benefits from a previous scheme, we simply contact the fund manager and ask them to send over their details.
Once we’ve worked out the numbers, we let them know what their estimated pension scheme benefits would be. And if they wish to go ahead, we ask them to confirm it in writing.
If they were already paying into an LGPS scheme (in England or Wales), we can often combine the benefits by what’s known as an ‘interfund transfer’. As long as it’s less than five years since they were an active member, their transferred benefits are calculated in the same way as when they earned them – with final salary benefits linked to any service before 1 April 2014.
Again, we contact their previous fund manager to request their details and then write to them with your options. If we don’t hear back by the date on the letter, we go ahead and combine the schemes.
Transfers to LGPS in Scotland and Northern Ireland are treated the same as Public Sector transfers.
If they are joining us from another constabulary or authority, there’s no need to complete any forms or request a pension transfer. We automatically combine their pension schemes when we hear from their employer and advise them of their new benefits in writing.
If they have pension benefits outside of the Police & Fire scheme, they should let us know by completing the ‘new member declaration form’. We would then contact their previous scheme and provide them with a quote.
Most non-public sector schemes will be money purchase arrangements where they build a pot of money that is used to buy a pension / annuity at their chosen retirement.
If they choose to transfer such a pension into an LGPS, Police or Fire scheme, we would offer them a guaranteed annual pension, payable from their state pension age. The scheme would work in a very different way than a money purchase, with no exposure to stock market fluctuations.
