The UK Treasury is currently considering plans to radically overhaul the UK's pension regime. In a nutshell, ex-UK state employees (including teachers, doctors, dentists, nurses, armed forces personnel, civil servants etc) may never be able to transfer their pension fund after April 2015!
GBPensions have been doing our best to warn people about the potential ramifications of this and in fact GoodReturns.co.nz (NZ's financial adviser news centre) recently featured our advice and opinion on this subject. Please click here to read it.
The British Press has now also reaffirmed our fears, albeit sometime after we announced them. Please click here to see what the Daily Telegraph had to say.
The consequences of not being able to transfer after this date are dramatic, as not only will individuals lose out on all the potential opportunities and benefits of holding their funds in a scheme in NZ as opposed to one in the UK, but they will then be locked into the punitive tax regime introduced this year by the IRD in NZ, indefinitely.
Whilst we are getting a number of enquiries as a result of the Good Returns article, there are still many people who aren't aware of this looming situation.
The April 2015 deadline may seem like some way off, but it's important to have realistic expectations about the timescales involved in the transfer of a pension fund; six months is a reasonable prediction, especially since it is not unusual to wait 12 weeks (or longer) to receive documentation back from the former UK employer before the process can even begin.
If you think you might be affected by these changes, please contact Tony Chamberlain at GBPensions for a friendly, no obligation chat on 0800 427 693 or (09) 414 2089 or by e-mailing admin@gbpensions.co.nz.
Please note: Tony Chamberlain is an authorised financial adviser whose Disclosure Statement is available without charge or obligation by contacting the aforementioned email address.