British Steel Pension Scheme
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Leaving Service Benefits

If you leave the Scheme no more contributions will be paid and you will have the following options:

  • If you leave with less than two years’ qualifying service in the DC Section you can receive a refund of the value of your own contributions, less a deduction for tax.  (Members commencing pensionable service on or after 1 October 2015 are not entitled to a refund of contributions when they leave pensionable service after 30 days.)

You should note that the value of this refund could be more or less than the contributions that you actually paid, depending on the investment performance of your chosen funds. You will not receive the benefits of the employer contributions paid into the DC Section for you.

You will not be entitled to any further benefits from the DC Section.

  • You can transfer the value of your Member Account including the value of employer contributions to another approved pension scheme, to a personal pension arrangement or to a relevant policy with an insurance provider.  The amount of the transfer will not be guaranteed, as it will be the value of your Member Account on the date that the transfer takes place.  There will be no charge or penalty for transferring.
  • You can leave the value of your Member Account invested in the Scheme until you choose to retire. You won’t be able to make any more contributions to your Member Account, but it will still attract investment returns in line with your investment decisions and you will still be able to switch funds.

If you want to transfer your benefits to another pension arrangement you should ask the Pensions Office for a statement of the transfer value of your benefits and details on how to transfer.

A facility exists within the DC pensions industry which has been developed in collaboration with leading DC providers and the Association of British insurers in order to reduce administration and improve processing times for DC transfers between the member providers. Over sixty leading providers currently use this facility including the Trustee's provider Legal & General. If you want to transfer your benefits to another pension arrangement you should ask the Pensions Office for a statement of the transfer value of your benefits and details on how to transfer.

Opting-out

If you wish to withdraw from the Scheme whilst remaining in employment, then you are required to advise Payroll. You will then be entitled to the options described above.

Your employer may be required to re-enrol you into another pension arrangement under the automatic enrolment regulations.  Your employer will contact you if this applies to you.