UK Pension Transfers & NZ Financial Services for Brits

UK pension providers vary widely in the speed of their response to transfer enquiries, and even in the methods they are willing to use to transfer funds - but most transfers take around three months.

Our fastest ever was three weeks, and our slowest was nine months. We do our best to expedite the process, couriering documents to the UK, and calling to confirm receipt of documents and for frequent progress reports.

The process for a pension transfer is:

• Contact us to get a full assessment of your retirement funds - we will not recommend that you transfer them unless it is in your best interests, which it may not be for some Final Salary schemes. We can also advise you on the best way to minimise your exposure to exchange rate fluctuations.
• Request transfer values from your UK pension providers, along with the relevant Overseas Pension Transfer forms - do stress Overseas, otherwise you will get the UK Transfer forms, which cannot be used.
• Once these have been received, fill in some more forms to request the transfer, and to set up your account with a New Zealand pension provider.
• Once the funds have been transferred to New Zealand, invest them with your NZ pension provider.
• Review your investments periodically, with special attention to the 5-6 year waiting period to unlock a portion of your funds.

We provide full support and advice every step of the way.

The paperwork you generally need to proceed with a transfer is:

• Details of your UK pension funds.
• Your P45 or some form of confirmation of the date of your departure from the UK.
• Your UK National Insurance number.
• The overseas transfer forms as previously mentioned from your UK pension providers.
• A copy of your passport.