Pension transfers set to boom
Written on 10/08/2018

The FT published a number on Saturday 22nd July 2017 - £100 million.


This is the amount that pensions administrator JLT are paying out in transfer values every month for the schemes it looks after.  

But according to Henry Tapper, at least two schemes are seeing CETVs leaving the scheme at more than £250m every month.

That is £3bn per annum from just two schemes, or £9bn in three years.

According to Mercers, since April 2015, the aggregate amount leaving schemes from transfers is around £50bn. 

But the figures from Henry Tapper suggest that even this £50bn figure is too low.

It could be true that the just two schemes have seen nearly twenty per cent of the activity in pension transfers, but unlikely.

We already know from Mercers that the majority of the money is above £30k, meaning that advice was provided by IFAs to most of this money. 

Banks and insurance companies are providing the highest transfer values, because they have matched their liability to gilts and discount rates.

According to the Government, £1.5 trillion is locked up in DB schemes

security-and-sustainability-in-defined-benefit-pension-schemes.pdf

The above document is a summary of that £1.5trillion held in DB schemes.

If just twenty per cent is paid out as CETV then the number to be paid out in transfers will be some £300bn. 

 So even if only partly true, the boom is in its early years


Current FS deficits that need to be repaid is today estimated at just £200bn

– although this is a notoriously variable figure.


Some sources say that the state pension is worth £320k.  

Work it out yourself!  Just as well the clients cannot cash this one in! 


DWP plans for accelerated increase in state pension age to 68


The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that it will bring forward the increase in state pension age from 67 to 68.


This follows the first review of state pension age conducted under the Pensions Act 2014. 

Before legislating for the change, the DWP will await the outcome of its next review due to be conducted in six years' time.

All news