Is it Time to Review Your Defined Benefits Scheme?
As the release of the UK government’s white paper on Pension Debt looms it seems stories of defined benefit schemes falling on hard times are becoming more and more common.
Indeed just last month the UK’s second largest construction company Carillion went into liquidation leavings its defined benefit scheme with a £587m pension shortfall. The scheme will now fall under the control of the government’s Pension Protection Fund where retirees already receiving a pension will be largely protected whilst those still working will see reductions in their benefit amounts and caps placed on how much they can receive in retirement.
Even more recently the majority of the 122,000 members of the British Steel pension scheme agreed to ditch their existing defined benefit scheme in favor of a more sustainable scheme. The new scheme is intended to close out British Steels looming pension shortfalls so that the retirement savings of existing members can be kept intact. The cost of this security of course is that the new scheme will pay out reduced benefits to members
With more and more defined benefit schemes facing tough decisions about their pension debt it becomes paramount for scheme members to dig a little deeper and figure out if your scheme provider is in a position to come good on its promises. It might even be worth considering transferring out of your existing defined benefit scheme altogether which will totally eliminate the risk of your pension fund running into trouble and also allow you to take advantage of near record high transfer values.
Is it time for you to review your Defined Benefit Scheme? Whether your migrating to Australia or Canada we can provide a holistic solution. Talk to our UK Pension experts at Australian QROPS – Contact us at info@australianqrops.com.au
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