A NOW: Pensions transfer out moves your whole pot, because NOW does not let part of it stay behind, and you need to stop paying in before the money can go.

Anyone weighing a NOW: Pensions transfer out has a few fixed rules to work with, set by NOW itself, and a few checks that fall to you. Free guidance is available from Pension Wise, and questions about your own NOW balance and where it is heading suit an FCA-authorised adviser. Complete this page's brief form and one rings back without charge.

Can you transfer part of your NOW: Pensions pot?

No. NOW's transfer-out guide says: "If you decide to transfer out, you'll have to transfer all your now:pensions savings. You can't transfer some out and leave some in now:pensions." A partial transfer out is therefore not on offer: the choice is between moving everything and leaving everything where it is.

The same guide explains why people look elsewhere. In NOW, savings can only be taken as cash at retirement. After a transfer, NOW says, the options widen to buying a guaranteed income for life, taking flexible income, or mixing them. What those routes mean for tax and income is covered in pension drawdown and pension annuities.

Stopping payments before a NOW: Pensions transfer out

NOW puts this step first: "You need to stop paying in before you can transfer your money out." NOW lists three ways to do it. You can log in to now:u, go to Your payments and choose Stop paying in; you can use the Stop paying in page on NOW's website; or you can ask on the website's webchat for a Stop paying in form.

Whether your employer's payments carry on once you stop yours is a question for the call-back that comes after the form here, which costs nothing.

Origo or transfer pack: how a NOW: Pensions transfer out starts

You usually start by speaking to the provider you want to move to, not to NOW. NOW describes two routes.

  • Origo. NOW uses this automated, industry-standard service. If your new provider does too, they ask you for some details of your NOW account and handle the rest, telling NOW you want to transfer.
  • A transfer pack. If the new provider does not use Origo, log in to now:u, go to Find and transfer and choose Get a transfer pack. You download and print it, fill in the forms, and send some to the new provider to complete.

With a transfer pack, NOW says it is likely you will need to send identity documents such as birth or marriage certificates, and that you should check whether copies will do or originals are needed. NOW then checks the details and tells you by email when the money has gone, after which it closes your account.

What timescale can you expect when leaving NOW: Pensions?

Across the industry, MoneyHelper says "A transfer often takes between two and six weeks, but your provider has up to six months to action your request." The law behind that limit is section 99 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, which for money purchase benefits (other than collective money purchase) runs the six months from the date of the application, with exceptions such as when a condition set by regulations for the transfer has not been met. With a transfer pack, the forms go from you to the new provider, back to you, and then to NOW with any identity documents it asks for. How long a pension transfer takes covers delays and what you can do about them.

What does it cost, and why can the amount change?

NOW's charges page states: "We don't charge you to transfer pension savings into or out of now:pensions. But if you transfer your pension savings out, the pension provider you're transferring to could make a charge." Ask the new provider for its charges in writing before you commit. The running costs in NOW, £2 a month plus 0.3% a year in its investment plans, are set out on NOW: Pensions charges, and the wider picture on pension transfer fees.

The amount can move too. NOW gives you a transfer value quote, the value on the date of the quote, and warns that the value on the day you transfer "could be higher or lower" because it follows investment values on that date. Markets can fall as well as rise, and you could get back less than the quote. A pot in the lump sum plan or the do-it-yourself funds is covered on NOW's investment options.

Advice, scams and the scheme taking your pot

NOW's guide describes transferring out as "a big decision" and recommends talking to an independent financial adviser regulated by the FCA; it names MoneyHelper's directory of FCA-regulated financial advisers as the place to look for one. Line up the new provider's charges, funds and ways of taking money against your NOW pot, and see choosing where to transfer and moving into a SIPP for that side. The FCA warns that a cold call about your pension is "illegal and probably a scam", and its pension scams page explains what to do. The rules on pension transfers list the red flags schemes look for.

Setting a move out of NOW against your age, tax and retirement plans deserves a word with an FCA-authorised adviser, and sending your details here costs nothing. How to transfer a pension has the general steps.

Smaller points on leaving NOW: Pensions

Where do I find the NOW: Pensions transfer out form?

The forms come in NOW's transfer pack, which you download from Find and transfer in now:u. If your new provider uses Origo, NOW says it can handle the rest of the transfer for you once you give it some details of your NOW account.

What about a NOW: Pensions transfer in?

NOW has partnered with an outside provider, Pension Lab, to help members find other pensions and bring them in, and says defined contribution pensions can usually be transferred in. To use Pension Lab you have to agree to share your personal details with it, and it tells you if a pension cannot come into NOW. Whether bringing pots together suits you is weighed up in combining pensions into one pot.

What happens to my account after the transfer?

NOW says it emails you when the money has gone to the other provider, then closes your account.

Can I move another pension into NOW straight after joining?

Not in the first month. NOW says that for one month after you are enrolled you can stop your payments, get the money back and be treated as if you had never been in the scheme, so a transfer in cannot start until that month is over; now:u shows the date under Find and transfer.