I’ve received a letter from Aegon that says I can transfer my existing plan fund value to my Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC) account.
Updated 17 November 2023
You can find out more in our ARC Key Features.
If we've made you an offer to transfer your existing plan fund value to your ARC account — we've already carried out checks to assess if this could be the right approach for you.
Combining your GPP and ARC plans will give you the convenience and ease of managing your assets in one place.
Charges
There may be a difference in the management charges that will apply - your transfer offer letter will show you whether the plan charges are the same, lower or higher.
You should consider this option carefully because if you choose to transfer, the total charges you'll pay on ARC could be higher than you're currently paying for your GPP plan.
You should make sure you understand the impact this will have on what you might get back at retirement.
Features
Tax-free cash entitlement
Your letter may have highlighted that you have a protected tax-free cash entitlement under the existing scheme. This entitlement could potentially be lost on a transfer out, however, we're able to carry this protection over into the ARC scheme by making a block scheme membership transfer of funds. There is no action required by you to retain this right. The exact amount of your tax-free cash entitlement will depend on a number of variable factors and will be calculated when you come to take your benefits.
Waiver of contribution
Your Group Personal Pension (GPP) gives you the option of taking out waiver of contribution insurance cover. This is an insurance to help with paying pension contributions to your plan if you become seriously ill or disabled and are unable to work for more than six months.
This cover is not available on your new Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC) account.
If you choose to transfer to ARC, your GPP plan will be closed and you'd lose the option to take out this cover in the future.
If you do want waiver of contribution cover in the future, you'll need to restart a pension contribution into your GPP. The cover would be on any contributions you're paying into your GPP plan.
If you consider that the option to take out waiver of contribution cover in the future is important to you, you may wish to keep your GPP and not ask us to transfer the fund value under your GPP to your new ARC account.
If you stop contributing towards this, your waiver of contribution cover will stop.
You can find more details in your existing plan's policy conditions.
Important things to remember
Transferring a pension may not be the best option for you. You may lose features, protections, guarantees or other benefits — so make sure you compare products before transferring. It's up to you to decide if this is the right decision for you. If you're not sure, speak to a financial adviser — there may be a charge for this.
It's important to remember the value of your consolidated pension pot can still fall as well as rise and the final value of your pension pot when you come to take benefits may be less than has been paid in.
Any new funds you move your money into will have their own set of risks that will be detailed in the fund information available to you.
If you don't have a financial adviser, you can visit moneyhelper.org.uk/choosing-a-financial-adviser to find the right one for you.
If you make any changes to your existing plan before the transfer is complete — this may affect the terms of this transfer offer.
This is dependent on the investment you choose. Investment costs on ARC are different to those on your existing plan. When we come to transfer your plan we’ll reassess it before we automatically transfer your fund value. If we can't demonstrate that this would be the best approach for you, we'll write to you.
If you have another plan with Aegon, not detailed in your letter, we’ve not made an offer to transfer that fund value into your ARC account.
If you have other plans with us, and you feel transferring is right for you, you can request a transfer via your online portal, Retiready. If you're unsure if transferring is right for you, please speak to a financial adviser — there may be a charge for this.
You'll still be able to transfer your fund value if you change your mind in the future. However, by transferring after the response date in your letter, we'd have to sell your investment in your old pension plan and invest again in your new pension plan.
This could result in your money not being invested in the market (known as out of market) for up to five days. You would miss out on any potential growth if the markets rise in that period, but would be protected against a loss if they fall in that time.
If we’ve highlighted that you have an entitlement to protected tax-free cash and you choose not to transfer at this time, as part of the block transfer, it may not be possible for you to carry over this protection if you choose to transfer in future. If you want to find out more about protected tax-free cash you should speak to a financial adviser — there may be a charge for this.
Please refer to the letter we have sent you. It will confirm what action, if any, you need to take to instruct the transfer to go ahead.
You'll have 30 days after receiving the contract note in which to cancel. Our Key features document tells you more about your right to cancel, what we’ll pay back and how to cancel.
Please refer to the letter we have sent you. This will let you know what you need to do if you do not want your transfer to go ahead.
Your existing plan, and the fund value you’ve already built up, will remain as is.
This will mean that you’ll have your new ARC plan, where your ongoing regular payment will be paid into, as well as a separate plan for your existing GPP plan. You’ll need to manage them separately, for example, if you want to make a change such as switch investments or update your personal details, you'll need to give us separate instructions for each plan.
You can manage your account online:
- For your new ARC account log in to Retiready.
- For your existing plan log in to our online services.
If you want to contact us about taking an income or want to speak to us about any of your plans, please call us:
- For your new ARC account - 0345 608 1680 (select the customer option), or
- For your existing old plan - 0345 610 0010 (have your plan number ready).
Call charges will vary.
If you let us know when you contact us you have another plan with Aegon we’ll be able to transfer you to the correct team, your call will be picked up without joining any call queues, and your query will be dealt with in one call.
If you don't want the transfer to happen, you can still pay contributions into your existing GPP plan. You can pay single one-off contributions or set up regular payments by completing a Direct Debit instruction (assuming you still have funds in your existing plan, and have not since transferred out).
If you change your mind in the future you’ll still be able to transfer your funds.
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