Pensions

The Public Sector Transfer Club

This is a special arrangement whereby transfers of accrued benefits are made through a network of public and private sector occupational pension schemes. In general this provides that employees who transfer their rights between club schemes will receive broadly equivalent service credits in the new scheme irrespective of any change in salary between the two employments. If there are differences between the two schemes, e.g. the retirement age, a transfer may produce a higher or lower service credit but where benefits are transferred between two schemes with identical provisions, the transfer will produce year for year credit.

Please note, in order to secure 'Club' rates, a transferring member must apply for a transfer within two years of joining the pension scheme.

The essence of the Club is that service credits are preserved throughout a person's employment in the public sector (including the few private participating employers) and continues to be fully linked to earning close to retirement date. Although transfer values are paid from one scheme to another they are not the key feature in the transfer process within the Club. If each participating scheme had an exactly balanced flow of transfers into and out of it the Club could operate perfectly satisfactorily without using transfer values at all. This balance does not generally exist. At any particular time, some schemes are growing in size while others are declining. Some schemes might attract older employees with longer service than others. For these reasons and others, standard tables are used to calculate amounts to be passed between schemes. These standard tables are reviewed regularly but infrequently changed. They are designed to suit the needs of the Club and are exempt from legislation on minimum "cash equivalent" transfer values referred to below.

The Club membership consists mainly of public sector pension schemes and transfer to or from schemes (including personal pension schemes) outside that group of schemes are dealt with differently.

Last modified: Wednesday, 14-Mar-2012 09:40:12 GMT