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Introduction

A pension transfer is the movement of an individual’s accrued pension rights from one pension scheme to another. UK pensions tax legislation specifies which transfers may be made without adverse tax consequences.

Such transfers are known as ‘recognised transfers’ and are authorised payments. The term ‘authorised payment’ means that the payment is authorised under UK tax law. Transfers of pension rights can be made between registered pension schemes without restriction and without triggering a test against a member’s lump sum allowance / lump sum and death benefit allowance (from 6 April 2024 onwards) or against a member’s lifetime allowance (prior to 6 April 2024). However, if the member applied for lifetime allowance protection on or after 15 March 2023, the transfer may cause them to lose this protection. For more details of lifetime allowance protection, see the Lifetime allowance transitional protections guidance note.

To constitute a recognised transfer, the transfer must be:

1. •

   from a registered pension scheme to another registered pension scheme (eg a member wishes to consolidate smaller pension