Multiple pension pots, same workplace

[KettleOn919]

It's a pension one! I'll try to be as brief as I can but...

Over my time with my current company I have accumulated four DC pension pots. First is a workplace fund from before my company merged with another company. It only has a few thousand in it. Then – post the company merge – there is my main workplace pension pot, my AVC pot, and a single payments pot (again very small) that my bonuses go into. All are with the same provider.

Retirement is approaching and I do not know what normally happens in this situation. I can find info on consolidating old pensions from different jobs/providers, but nothing about combining pots from the same workplace and provider. Of course I put this question to my pension dept, and they stated that I could get a form to transfer the pre-merge workplace pension to my current workplace pension... but didn't say anything about the others. Surely I don't have to draw annuities from the two funds that literally have only a few thousand each in them... it would be a comically insignificant amount a year!

I'd rather try to glean a bit of info before I go back to ask my pension dept further questions. I've had to ask them various things over the past couple of years and for one reason or another (probably me being a bit dim) I never, ever, get an answer I can understand. There isn't enough in any of the funds, or in total, to make it worthwhile for an independent advisor to help me.

So, anyone done this, or know anything about it? I'd appreciate your help.

This is very unusual
no advice but yes…. You need to speak to the pension dept pronto

They should be able to combine them all, just ask.

You don’t have to buy an annuity any more. From age 55 you can take 25% as a lump sum tax free, and then do what you like with the rest, but it is taxed as income when you take it out.

You can get free pension advice from the government

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/information/pension-wise/

Are any of them final salary schemes? In which case leave them where they are

Before you consolidate them, check that they don’t have any additional rights attached to them.

You can get free advice on your options from https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise This will be less personalised than paying a financial adviser but well worth doing for a smaller pot.

Speak to the pension company directly, not your company's pension department. You should be able to consolidate them easily into one account for drawdown or an annuity. First decide how you want to take the pension money and whether you want to stay with the current company.

I had 2 from one parent company, both were with Aviva. I merged them both, took 25% tax free and then took an annuity for the balance. If I had kept them separate, they would have charged 2 lots of set up fees for the annuity, so I saved that fee, which I think was £500.

I had an appointment with the government service pension wise. I have a few small pots and have kept them separate when I thought I would merge them as it gives me the flexibility of drawing them down at different times.

You do need to ask your employer about the fees/charges aspect though!

Presumably not when their opening line is literally "I have accumulated four DC pension pots"

I doubt it’s that unusual, I’ve been with ‘the same company’ for nearly 40 years and have 5 pots of various sizes.
you can consolidate them or not - I’m probably not going to, and do different things with them. Easiest thing with a very small pot IMO is to just take it as a lump sum.

Have you had a free talk with Pensionwise yet? That can be quite helpful.

Note to self to pay more attention :)

Thanks for your help, everyone. I received electronic forms to transfer the (tiny) pre-merge pension with my current main pension, but unfortunately I'm finding them confusing. They ask a lot of questions to which I don't know the answers (name and phone number of administrator for example). Both transfer in and transfer out pensions are with Aviva, so why are they asking me things I can only find out by asking them?

As regards the others, well I asked on the Aviva site (not my workplace pension department) about merging them, but after a week have had no reply. They've also sent me paper letters asking what I want to do with the pensions, but have not offered me any info on the choices available.

I feel like the stupidest person in the world. I always thought I'd be able to chuck everything in together just before retiring and start drawing an annuity. How can I end up this confused?

Aviva were absolutely rubbish in my case, even asked for a letter from my GP for information on my health, they said it may increase my annuity, but after going to the trouble of getting a letter, it didn’t change anything. They took so long in merging my 2 pensions (both with Aviva), they actually raised a complaint on my behalf. I then got a cheque for £200. I would contact Aviva again in the hope you get someone that knows about merging pensions. Once the complaint was raised, it got sorted.

Thanks, I've just given them a nudge about the pension merging question and also reminded them that if they want me to make a decision about how I'd like to take my pension/s then to please be so kind as to let me know what the various options are first!

I’m using Retirement Line to organise an annuity from one of my pots, it’s in progress and so far they seem helpful. I did a health questionnaire with them first to see if that would give a better rate - I think it does a bit - and then they seem to just need my GP contact detail after that. Which imo is entirely reasonable.

3 of my pots re with aviva - one of them I think is from another organisation they acquired and they’ve not merged their administration, I have to talk to them separately from the other 2.