How to transfer your pension out of PensionBee

To transfer out of PensionBee, your new provider sends the request; the firm says it charges no exit fee and aims for 14 days on its electronic route.

You do not ask PensionBee for the money yourself. The company you are moving to starts the transfer, and PensionBee's own FAQ explains how it expects to receive that request. Whether leaving suits you is another matter: this page's short form leads to a free chat in which an FCA-authorised adviser looks at your retirement picture as a whole.

How do you transfer out of PensionBee?

Open the account with the new provider first, then let it make the request. PensionBee says that if the new provider uses Origo Options, the electronic transfer system most of the industry subscribes to, "they'll need to request a transfer through the electronic system", and that you should ask them to search for PensionBee "in order to avoid delays".

If the new provider is not on Origo Options, it emails its completed transfer-in forms, signed by you, to transfersout@pensionbee.com, with full details of the receiving scheme. Incomplete forms mean PensionBee will ask for more information. If a letter of authority goes with the request, PensionBee wants your PensionBee policy number, full legal name, date of birth, registered address, National Insurance number and signature (electronic signatures are accepted). Once your new provider's completed forms arrive, PensionBee sends you a confirmation email.

There is a limit on where the money can go: "PensionBee can only transfer out to UK based, HMRC registered pension schemes." On the Origo route it describes eligible schemes as FCA regulated and authorised by The Pensions Regulator. Moving abroad is a separate process; PensionBee says overseas transfers typically take longer because of extra due diligence. See moving a UK pension to another country. For the general sequence of any transfer, read how to transfer a pension step by step.

Can you move part of your PensionBee pot, or only cash?

You can move part of it. PensionBee allows partial transfers out, but "5% needs to be left in the pot", and the receiving provider should request them on Origo Options. It sets no minimum value for a transfer out, and says all its plans are liquid.

For money coming in, PensionBee's rule is plain: "PensionBee can only accept cash transfers." That covers pensions arriving, so it is no guide to how your pot leaves. Sold to cash or moved as they stand? How your holdings leave PensionBee is a point the adviser ringing back after this page's form will unpick with you, without charge.

Time out of the market cuts both ways. Of its own plan switches, PensionBee warns that reinvested funds "could be worth more or less than when they were sold". The value of any pension investment can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you put in.

What do you lose or keep when you leave PensionBee?

PensionBee says it offers no special benefits with its defined contribution plans, no with-profits plans, no protected tax-free cash and no protected retirement age benefits. On its own account, then, a PensionBee pot carries none of those features to lose by leaving. What a new provider offers, and what it charges, is set by its own terms.

The legal advice requirement turns on safeguarded benefits, which PensionBee treats as another name for special benefits. Under SI 2015/742 (as substituted from 6 April 2018), a scheme need not check that you took appropriate independent advice where your safeguarded benefits are worth £30,000 or less; above that, the check applies. That matters if you also hold an old final salary pension or one with a guaranteed annuity rate. See the advice requirement and protected pension age on transfer.

Your other pensions decide whether this move helps, so the call-back that follows this page's form, from an FCA-authorised adviser, takes in all of them.

Be wary of anyone who contacts you first. The FCA's advice: "If you get a call out of the blue (a cold call) about your pension, the safest thing to do is hang up." Check any new provider on the FCA register, and see the FCA's pension scams page before agreeing. More checks are in pension transfer rules.

How quickly does PensionBee send a transfer out?

PensionBee aims to transfer to most FCA-regulated personal pension companies on Origo Options within 14 days of receiving everything it needs, and gives an average transfer-out time of 10 days to other UK regulated providers.

Other transfers may take longer: because of pension scams, PensionBee says, regulators require it to carry out extra due diligence checks. As it may need information from third parties such as HMRC, the process "could take up to six months (the legal deadline for pension transfers)", and it may decline a transfer out to meet its regulatory obligations. If a transfer is dragging, how long a pension transfer takes covers delays and amber flags.

A plan switch is a separate job. PensionBee says a switch can take up to 12 working days, during which your investment is sold to cash and your balance frozen. Whether a transfer request that lands mid-switch waits for it to finish is one to ask PensionBee, or an adviser free on the call-back the form arranges.

Does PensionBee charge an exit fee?

PensionBee says no: "There's no exit fee if you leave PensionBee at any point." Its annual management fee still runs while the request is open. Moving to another provider means you pay only a proportion of the annual fee up to when the request is completed, according to PensionBee's fees page. The fee itself is set out on PensionBee's fees.

A fee of nil on PensionBee's side says nothing about the receiving firm, which may charge to set up or hold your money. Comparing those costs is covered in pension transfer fees.

If you have only just joined, there is a separate way out. PensionBee has a 30-day cancellation policy and will return your pensions to your old providers free of charge if you cancel within 30 days of opening, "assuming they're also willing to take them back".

How do you close your PensionBee account?

PensionBee's FAQ says that to close your account overall you should email your dedicated account manager, known as your BeeKeeper. If you have changed your mind about a pension that has not yet started to transfer in, you can cancel it in your online account, called the BeeHive. Taking money out as cash is a separate route, explained in how to withdraw from PensionBee.

Leaving PensionBee: what people ask

Can I transfer PensionBee to a SIPP?

PensionBee's stated limit is UK-based, HMRC-registered schemes, so a SIPP from a UK provider can be a destination if it is registered. The SIPP provider makes the request. See what a SIPP is.

Is a PensionBee transfer out part of a bulk transfer?

PensionBee says it transfers pensions on an individual basis, and that this is not part of a bulk or block transfer. Bulk moves are covered in block transfers.

Will PensionBee ask me for ID before the money goes?

Not usually. PensionBee says it will not normally need identification for a transfer out, though in some cases it may.

Who can help me decide whether to move at all?

Still deciding whether to leave PensionBee? The enquiry form arranges time with an FCA-authorised adviser who weighs your pots together, without charge. Is PensionBee good sets out what the firm offers.