FAQs – your questions answered

As a Bronze, Silver or Gold member of the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan, you may need the agreement of the Company or Trustee if you are seeking to take your pension from age 55, regardless of whether or not you are still working.

If you take your Scheme pension before your Normal Pension Date, the amount of annual pension you get will be lower because it will be paid for longer.

You should also be aware that once you have received any taxable cash from drawdown or a taxable cash lump sum (other than from a small pension pot), this will restrict the amount of future pension savings that you or your employer can make on your behalf into a defined contribution pension each tax year without incurring a tax charge. This is known as the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA). You can learn more about the MPAA on this Government website: moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/money-purchase-annual-allowance.

You can usually take up to 25% of your pension savings tax-free. However, any pension income above this (whether from the Scheme, an annuity, drawdown or taxable cash) is taxed in the same way as earnings. Unlike earnings though, you do not make National Insurance contributions on your pension income. You will pay tax at your marginal tax rate, which will depend on the amount of income you receive from all sources. Please note that if you are currently employed and receiving a salary, taking your pension could potentially mean that you move up to a higher tax band. In addition, if you decide to take all of your Scheme pension savings as a cash lump sum in one go, this could mean that you end up paying more tax, as you may move up to a higher tax band.

Full details of your options for any DC benefits you have with Aegon and/or AVCs with Hargreaves Lansdown would be provided in your retirement statement. In summary, you will have similar options at retirement to those shown above in relation to transferring your Silver and Gold Section benefits:

• Take them as cash with 25% currently being payable tax-free
• Buy a pension with an insurance company (an annuity)
• Transfer them to another pension arrangement.

Further information about these benefits can be obtained from Aegon and/or Hargreaves Lansdown (see contact details).

The Annual Allowance applies to all savings you make into registered pension arrangements, which restricts the amount that you (and your employer) can save each tax year without incurring a tax charge. The standard Annual Allowance for the current tax year can be found here (please note this reduces if you have a ‘high’ income).

A separate Money Purchase Annual Allowance will apply to you, irrespective of your income, if you access your pension savings flexibly and take a taxable income. This includes taking taxable income from a drawdown fund, as well as the taxable part of a cash lump sum. It doesn’t apply if you buy an annuity. Once the Money Purchase Annual Allowance is triggered, this restricts the amount that you (and your employer) can save into a money purchase (defined contribution) pension arrangement each tax year without incurring a tax charge. The Money Purchase Annual Allowance for the current tax year can be found here.

Therefore, if you are planning to continue working and/or saving into a pension arrangement after taking your pension savings, you should take the Money Purchase Annual Allowance into account when deciding which option to take.

You can learn more about the MPAA on this Government website: moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/money-purchase-annual-allowance

The MPAA for the current tax year can be found here

In addition to any pension savings you have built up in the Scheme, you may also receive a State Pension payable from your State Pension Age. See the State Pension page for further details

Your State Pension Age will depend on when you were born. Use the Government’s State Pension Checker to find out how much State Pension you are likely to get, and from what age.

You should be aware that individuals are being approached by ‘unregulated’ providers suggesting that they transfer their pension benefits in exchange for seemingly tempting investment opportunities and/or cash. The Government has banned cold calling in relation to pensions so if anyone calls you out of the blue about yours, just hang up – it could be a scam. You could lose most or all of your pension savings as a result of a scam. To check the firm you are dealing with is regulated and see if what you are being offered is potentially a scam, visit the ScamSmart website – fca.org.uk/scamsmart.

The Pensions Regulator, the UK supervisory body for occupational pension schemes, has produced guidance here https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/pension-scams and a booklet to help members protect themselves from scams. This can be accessed here: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/-/media/thepensionsregulator/files/import/pdf/16423_pensions_consumer_leaflet_screen.ashx

If you believe you have been approached with such an offer, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, actionfraud.police.uk/report fraud.

You can still take your pension from the Scheme if you live overseas. Your pension will normally be paid by bank transfer and can be paid to a non-UK bank if you wish.

The pension will be calculated in Sterling, so if you wish your pension to be paid in local currency, there may be a cost to do this from the bank. If you are a resident for tax purposes in a country outside the UK, you will need to consider any local tax issues which may arise due to your new income.

You may also be able to transfer your benefits to an overseas approved pension arrangement provided that you have taken advice from an FCA registered and authorised financial adviser if your transfer value is more than £30,000.

The Pensions Regulator is the UK supervisory body for occupational pension plans in the UK. The Regulator is responsible for monitoring the running of occupational pension plans to ensure the protection of member benefits. You can contact the Regulator on 0845 600 0707 or go to: thepensionsregulator.gov.uk

If your Scheme pension savings are worth £10,000 or less you may be able to take this as a ‘small pot’ lump sum. This means that you can take your entire Scheme pension savings as cash. Up to 25% of the lump sum would be tax-free, with tax paid on the remainder. Taking a cash lump sum in this way would not trigger the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (see Tax and Allowances page for details); you would need to let the Scheme administrators know that you wish to take a ‘small pot’ lump sum.

If you have pension savings in more than one scheme, and your total savings are worth £30,000 or less, you may also be able to take all of your pension savings as a one-off lump sum if you have reached age 55. Please contact the Scheme’s administrators if you believe this could be the case for you.

The Government’s MoneyHelper service which includes Pension wise, the Pensions Advisory Service and the Money Advice Service.

The Money Advice Service in particular has a lot of useful information, guides and tools for pensions and retirement options here.

We hope that the retirement process runs smoothly for you. However, if you do have an issue or complaint, please contact the Scheme’s administrators and they will let you know how to take the matter further.

Aptia (formerly Mercer)

• Call: 0370 850 0712
• Email: FirstPensions.UK.GMPe@Mercer.com

 Aegon (for The Lifetime Savings Plan and Bronze level members of the First UK Bus Scheme)

• Email: my.pension@aegon.co.uk
• Call: 01733 353496

If you are unable to resolve your issue or complaint through the Scheme’s administrators, having followed the Trustee’s dispute resolution procedure where relevant, then you can contact MoneyHelper by calling 01159 659 570. They should be able to assist you and answer any questions you may have.

If your concern still cannot be satisfactorily resolved, you can then refer it to the Pensions Ombudsman. The Pensions Ombudsman is an impartial organisation set up to investigate complaints about how a pension scheme is run.

Contact the Pensions Ombudsman at:

• Pensions Ombudsman Service
• 10 South Colonnade
• Canary Wharf
• E14 4PU
• Tel: 0800 917 4487
• Email: enquiries@pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
• Website: http://pensions-ombudsman.org.uk

You can also submit a complaint form online: pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/our-service/make-a-complaint

The Trustee has appointed Origen Financial Services (Origen), a firm of financial advisers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, who can help you understand your options in more detail and decide which one is right for you.

The Trustee will pay for one round of advice for eligible members. To read about the qualifying conditions, please read the Decide page.

Origen, or your own chosen financial adviser, will be responsible for the advice provided to you and the legal relationship is between you and the adviser. The Trustee is unable to provide you with financial advice and do not accept any liability for any advice that you receive from Origen or any other person or organisation.

While there is currently no expectation that Origen would cease to provide advice in the future, if this were to happen for any reason, you may need to make alternative advice arrangements.

Yes, you can speak to your own financial adviser, if you prefer, but you will have to pay for this yourself.

If you want to consider transferring out of the Scheme to a DC arrangement and your transfer value is over £30,000 (excluding any DC benefits/AVCs), you must take advice from an FCA regulated and authorised financial adviser before you can proceed with a transfer.

To tailor their advice to you, you’ll need to provide your adviser with information on:

• Your finances (for example, debts, income, outgoings, savings, other retirement income)
• Your health and lifestyle
• Your plans for retirement
• Your eligible dependants.

You can find suggested questions to ask your adviser on the FCA’s website: https://fca.org.uk/consumers/what-ask-adviser

If you decide to speak to a financial adviser, you will need to call and make an appointment at a convenient time to have a discussion with an adviser.

Financial advisers must be officially authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide pension transfer advice. The FCA is independent and not attached to the Government. This register contains details of financial advisers who are regulated to provide advice. The FCA have published information to help members considering transferring – this is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/pension-transfer-defined-benefit

When you take advice from Origen, the Trustee is only providing an introduction and paying for the cost of one round of advice.