If you leave the Scheme either by opting out or by leaving the Company you can either:
- Keep your right to a Scheme pension payable at Normal Pension Age (NPA) (a Deferred Pension and cash sum). Your Deferred Pension and cash sum will be calculated in the same way as your benefits would have been calculated at your NPA (if you had remained a Contributing Scheme member) but based on your Pensionable Salary and Pensionable Service at the date you leave the Scheme. Any Added Years and service credits from a transfer into the Scheme will be included. The Scheme will increase your Deferred Pension each year until it comes into payment. Under current law increases are in line with the Retail Prices Index up to a maximum of 5% a year.
You will receive your Deferred Pension from your NPA. If you leave as a result of redundancy or re-organisation, you may be able to receive your Deferred Pension from age 50 with no reduction for early payment. You may also, with the Trustee's consent, request to retire before your NPA in which case it will be reduced for early payment.
Please note that if you opt-out of the Scheme and you meet automatic enrolment criteria, you will be automatically enrolled into the Iberdrola Group UK Stakeholder Pension Plan with Fidelity.
- Transfer the cash value of your Deferred Pension to another pension arrangement. At any time you can transfer the value of your Deferred Pension and cash sum out of the Scheme to a new employer’s scheme or to a suitable individual pension arrangement. The Scheme Actuary sets how the cash equivalent transfer value of your Deferred Pension is calculated. This is the estimated value of your benefits taking into account the guaranteed increases before you retire and after the pension starts. You can obtain an illustrative transfer value by logging into Mercer's online member portal, www.benpal.com (if you require log in details, you can request these by contacting the Mercer helpline numbers). For some members, due to complexities in the way your benefits are calculated, you will be unable to view illustrative figures on Benpal. If this is the case, you should contact the pension scheme administrator, Mercer, to request a transfer value quotation. The pension scheme administrator will only provide one estimate in any 12-month period free of charge. If you would like a transfer value quotation you must put your request in writing to the pension scheme administrator.
Transferring pension benefits from one arrangement to another is complicated and it is important that you take independent financial advice before deciding to make any pension transfer to ensure that it is in your best interests.
Leaving the Company - what you need to do
You don’t need to do anything. If you leave service, the pension scheme administrator will be advised of your date of leaving and will contact you at your home address providing details of your Scheme benefits and explaining the options that you have. You should expect to receive information from the pension scheme administrator within two months of your date of leaving service.
Opting out - what you need to do
Think carefully!
Membership is voluntary - you can choose to leave the Scheme at any time as long as you give the pension scheme administrator at least two months’ notice. But please think carefully! You will have to make your own pension arrangements or rely on the State. It is really important to take independent financial advice if you are thinking about opting out.
Are you aware of these important points?
- You will not earn any further pension benefits in this Scheme while you continue working for the Company;
- You will not be able to re-join the Scheme if you opt out;
- You will not be covered for Life Assurance or any other death benefits once you leave the Scheme;
- You will no longer have the benefit of contributions paid towards your pension in this Scheme by the Company.
What you need to do
If you do decide to opt out of the Scheme you must notify the pension scheme administrator who will issue the appropriate Notice for completion and return.
If you have built up a pension in the Scheme, your pension options will be exactly the same as if you had left the Company.