Divorce

Getting divorced is never easy. Here is some essential information that will help you understand how getting divorced may affect your pension.

If you divorce, a court may decide that some or all of your Fund benefits should be shared with your ex as part of the divorce settlement.

In most cases, the court would make a ‘pension sharing order’ to split your benefits between you and your ex (or, the court could decide to ‘earmark’ a percentage of your benefits to be paid to your ex when you retire or die, but this is less common).

To split your benefits, they would need to be valued, and the court-decided percentage/value would be transferred out of the Fund to an approved pension arrangement chosen by your ex. Your own Fund benefits will reduce accordingly.

Note: Your ex cannot become a member of the Fund.

Need to talk?

The Member Care Team might be able to help. This team is dedicated to supporting members in difficult and complex situations like these.

Contact the Member Care Team

A step-by-step guide to managing your Fund benefits in a divorce

Here’s an idea of the typical steps that need to be taken – you can also see what you’d need to provide, and when and how to provide them. All times are approximate.

  • Actions for you / your ex
  • Actions for us, the administrator

See timeline

  1. Get in touch with the admin team

    • Review your court letters and details on sharing your pension with your ex
    • Check your court letters for specific details on what you need to ask for.

    Contact us

  2. We'll send you an information pack

    After 5-10 working days, we will send you a pack including:

    • an information form for your ex to return to us; and
    • a transfer value of your ex’s ‘share’ of your Fund benefits.

    This transfer value is illustrative only and not guaranteed. We will calculate it again if you proceed with a pension sharing order or agreement.

  3. Send your Court documents

    If you receive a pension sharing order/arrangement, please send us (via post):

    • Decree Absolute
    • Pension Sharing Order; and
    • Pension Sharing Annex.

  4. We'll send transfer out request forms to your ex

    Your ex should receive these within 5 – 10 working days.

  5. Your ex needs to complete the transfer out request forms

    Your ex, with the receiving scheme, needs to complete the transfer out request forms and send them, by post, to us.

  6. We'll complete the pension sharing order

    Once we receive all the completed forms, we will recalculate the transfer value and complete the pension sharing order.

How long will it take?

The pension sharing order will be completed no longer than 4 months after receiving all forms from your ex as well as the receiving scheme. But it may take longer if the paperwork is not correct and/or in the format required.

Facing redundancy

If you are being made redundant, there are 3 things you should know about your benefits:

  1. You could pay in some of your redundancy payout into the Fund

    This might be a tax-efficient way to boost your retirement income, but you’ll need to keep an eye on the Government limits on how much you can contribute and save without paying tax.

    Tax and you – before taking your benefits

  2. If you’re age 55 or older, you can take your Fund benefits straight away

    Some members may receive their benefits without reduction for early payment. You would need to check your terms of redundancy to know if this applies to you.

  3. Get advice

    It’s always a good idea to get advice if you are considering either of these options, to check that they are right for you.

    Get advice

Ill health

If you’ve been off work for a long time (usually five years and six months) because of ill health, or you’re getting long-term disability payments that have run out, you may be able to take your benefits from the Fund early.

Usually, if you take your benefits earlier than your Normal Pension Age, how much you receive every year is reduced, because they will likely be paid for longer. How much you will receive in the case of ill-health will depend on your circumstances, and we’d ask you to go to a medical assessment for which we’ll pay. In this way, your pension might not be reduced in the same way as it would be if you were in good health.

Please see your Schedule Factsheet for the details, including how the Trustee and bank assess what you’re entitled to.