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Pensions

Over the years, through joining forces with other companies, OneFamily has taken over the running of contracts that were originally arranged with another company. Some of those contracts were pension products.

Information on your existing pension fund and fund switching

You can find out which fund you're invested in by checking the last statement we sent you (feel free to call us if you can’t locate that). Once you know which fund your pension is invested in, you can find out about your fund's risk profile and how it's invested on our website.

What you are looking for is called a Fund Factsheet and will be one of the 5 “EdenTree” factsheets that can be found at the bottom of the fund factsheet page.

If you feel that your current fund is no longer right for you it is possible to switch to one of the other EdenTree funds without cost. Please get in touch if you want to explore your options further.

Note that not all schemes offer all the options, but you can transfer your pension savings to a provider that does provide the benefits you are looking for if you wish. OneFamily does not charge you to transfer your pension to another provider.

Transferring your pension

If you want to change the way your money is invested to a type of fund OneFamily doesn’t provide, access a benefit option we don't have or simply pull all your pensions into a single place, it is possible to do that by transferring your pension pot. This can be done without cost to you.

You need to choose a company to move to and then complete their transfer request form. That company will then get in touch with us and between us we will arrange the transfer. You will then receive a confirmation from your new provider when the process is complete.

We strongly encourage you to take the time to have a free consultation with the Government’s Pensionwise service, who will help you think through your options and arrive at a plan.

For more information on Pensionwise and how to book an appointment, please visit the official Pensionwise page.

Additional information

Your options at age 55

In 2015, legislation came in that gave individuals more options as to what they can do with their pension savings, so that benefits could be better tailored to people’s individual needs. The main changes were:

From age 55 you can access as much of your pensions savings as you want (please note that there may be some tax to pay).

Lump sum payment

You can take money directly from your pension pot without having to buy an annuity or put the money into drawdown, and 25% of this sum will be tax-free. This is called an ‘uncrystallised funds pension lump sum’ (UFPLS). You can take one or more UFPLS payments, which can be regular or irregular payments.

Lifetime annuity

You can use some or all of your funds to buy an annuity that will be payable at least for the rest of your life. You can take a tax-free lump sum of up to 25% of your pension pot when you buy an annuity. This is called a pension commencement lump sum.

Flexi-access drawdown

You can put funds into drawdown. From 6 April 2015 there are no limits on how much or how little you can take from your drawdown fund each year. You can take a tax-free pension commencement lump sum of up to 25% of your pension pot when you put funds into drawdown. Any drawdown payments are taxed as income.

What does Lifestyling mean?

Lifestyling is a feature of certain pension contracts that automatically switches the investment mix of the pension fund over time.

The investment mix moves from a focus on stocks and shares to more fixed interest investments as you get closer to your chosen retirement age. This is to help gradually reduce the investment risk, so you get more certainty as you near retirement.

The downside is that, as risk reduces, the potential for return also goes down, so this option may not be right for everyone.

Planning for your pension

To help you understand a bit more about what options you have and what you should be thinking about, we have created some example situations to show how different people and goals need different approaches.

These examples are not based on actual customers and should not be taken as advice or the most appropriate course of action in similar situations.

They are intended to simply show the importance of being aware of the all pension provisions you've built up through different pension providers and employers over the years, and making a plan around what you think you'll need and when. It may mean that you need to make some changes.

Richard is thinking of accessing his pension savings later than he originally planned

Richard enjoys his job and is in good health. His original chosen pension age was 62, but he now doesn’t want to access his pension savings before age 70.

Richard’s pension pot with OneFamily is just one of several pension plans he has. He's comfortable with continuing with his current higher risk investments, as he has other pensions and a good amount of savings. This will let him pick the best time to start claiming his benefits.

Richard considered transferring to another provider to take advantage of Lifestyle switching options, but decided against it.

A Lifestyle switch option would gradually move the invested money from the higher risk funds to lower risk ones over the five years leading up to his chosen pension date. From that point, his pension savings would stay invested in the lower risk fund until he accesses them.

Investing in a lower risk fund with lower growth potential would mean that whilst his fund values would be more stable, the buying power of his pension savings could go down due to inflation, impacting the value of future income.

Jenny is becoming a grandma soon and is planning to cash in her pension early

Jenny is 56 and had planned to work until her chosen pension date of 60.

However, her daughter has just announced she is expecting twins, so Jenny is rethinking her retirement plans and planning to cash in her pension in a year so she can help with childcare when her daughter goes back to work.

When her children were young, Jenny worked part time and has several pension pots from different employers. She's decided to cash in her OneFamily pension plan only, leaving the others to accumulate for later.

She's reviewed her investment choices and decided to switch her OneFamily pension savings into a lower risk fund to reduce the risk of her investments losing value right before she cashes in her pension plan.

She understands that by investing in a lower risk fund, inflation may reduce the buying power of her pension savings and she may miss out on any potential growth if financial markets produce strong returns.

Naz is planning to select a flexible retirement income on her chosen pension date

Naz has worked for several companies during her career. She has a good company pension from one employer which will provide a reasonable level of income. She is approaching 55 and plans to transfer her OneFamily pension plan to another provider in order to access flexible retirement income.

She is planning to take maximum tax-free cash and then draw down taxable lump sums, as and when she needs, to pay for extras such as a holiday or new kitchen.

She is comfortable investing in medium risk funds and accepts that she could lose money if the value of the fund drops.

Before discussing her options with the Government’s Pensionwise service, Naz was considering if she should use lifestyle switching but has decided not to. This is because, after taking tax-free cash, the balance of her pension savings are likely to remain invested for many years as she will only access her pension savings from time to time to top up her income. She does not want to miss out on potential growth if the stock market produces strong returns. By investing in a lower risk fund with lower growth potential, she is worried that the buying power of her pension savings may be reduced by inflation, impacting her future income.

She has reviewed her investment choices and will move part of her pension savings into a lower risk fund a year in advance of whenever she plans to access them.

Reginald is looking for a guaranteed income for life from his chosen pension date

Reginald (Reg) is just over five years away from his chosen pension date of age 65. He was late starting to save for a pension and has the majority of his pension savings with OneFamily.

Having looked at how the value of his pension pot has gone up and down over the last few years, Reg feels it's time to remove some of the risk from his pension savings, so he wants to make use of Lifestyle options. When he gets to retirement age, Reg is planning to access his pension savings to buy a guaranteed income for life.

Reg wants the security of knowing that his pension savings won’t fluctuate as much as his chosen pension date approaches. So, he has decided to transfer his pension pot to a provider that can offer Lifestyle and annuity options. He understands that he might miss out on potential growth if the stock market is strong and that, by investing in a lower risk fund, inflation may reduce the buying power of his pension savings.

Christine is over 10 years from her planned retirement date, but she's starting to think about how to protect the value she's built up

Christine is happy with OneFamily’s service, charges and fund choice at the moment, but she's planning to review her fund options in the last 5 years before her chosen retirement date.

If Onefamily doesn't offer a fund she is happy with at that time, she's planning to transfer her pension pot to another provider, possibly bringing together a few other small pots she has elsewhere.

Christine is planning to transfer to another provider nearer her retirement date to give her access to a broader range of options like drawdown facilities, as OneFamily doesn't offer that option.

Christine is not yet sure how she will take benefits when the time comes but she's happy that there's no charge for moving her funds from OneFamily to another provider.

Pensions

Information on your existing pension fund and fund switching

Transferring your pension

Additional information

Planning for your pension

Governance Advisory Arrangement

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