A pension block transfer moves two or more members between schemes in one go, and can keep protections a one-person transfer would lose.

A block transfer, sometimes called a bulk transfer, is when a group of members' pension rights move together from one scheme to another under a single agreement. It matters because pension rules treat a group move differently from you moving alone: for some people it decides whether a protected pension age, or tax-free cash above the usual 25%, survives. Has a trustee letter about a scheme move reached you? You can read it out to an FCA-authorised adviser down the line, free, after sending the form on this page.

What is a pension block transfer?

The phrase carries two meanings. In everyday pensions practice a bulk transfer is the movement of many members' benefits from one scheme to another. In tax law, HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual gives "block transfer" a narrower meaning, and the label decides whether certain protections survive. A group move that misses HMRC's tests is still a bulk transfer in the first sense, but not a block transfer in the second.

An individual transfer is your own request, usually to a pension you choose; the steps for that are in how to transfer a pension. A block transfer is arranged between the two schemes, and you may have little say in the timing.

When does a block or bulk transfer happen?

Three situations come up most often.

  • A scheme winding up. When a scheme is being wound up, pension law lets its rules provide for the rights to move to another scheme covering the same employer's staff.
  • A change of employer. A takeover, merger or sale of part of a business can lead to staff being moved into the new owner's scheme. Pension law recognises this directly: one route for moving rights applies where the transfer is a consequence of a financial transaction between the employers.
  • Consolidation. Rights can be moved into a scheme run for the same group of employers, or into an authorised master trust; the conditions are below.

This differs from a pension risk transfer, where a scheme pays an insurer to take over its liabilities; that is covered in what is pension risk transfer. Moving one old pot into a new employer's scheme on your own is different again: see moving a pension to a new employer's scheme.

Can my pension be moved without my consent?

Sometimes, yes, but only where the scheme's own rules allow it and a legal route is followed. In England, Wales and Scotland, regulation 12 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Preservation of Benefit) Regulations 1991 lets a scheme provide for rights to move without the member's agreement in set circumstances. For benefits that are not money purchase, such as a final salary pension, the main routes are:

  • the scheme is being wound up and the receiving scheme covers employment with the same employer; or
  • the schemes cover the same employer, or different employers linked by a financial transaction or by a group, principal-employer or partnership relationship, with you one of a group being moved; and an actuary certifies the members' rights in the receiving scheme, the transfer takes place within 3 months of the actuary signing, and nothing significant in the certificate has changed by then.

Plain defined contribution (money purchase) rights moving to another workplace scheme need one of these instead: an authorised master trust or, since 31.7.2026, a scheme or section authorised under Part 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 2021 as the receiver; employers in the same corporate group, with you working or having worked for a group company; or written advice to the trustees, in the year before the transfer, from an adviser they judged independent of the receiving scheme. Money purchase rights backed by a guarantee follow the final salary routes above.

You are not left unwarned. The regulation says information about the proposed transfer and the value of the rights being moved "shall be furnished to the member not less than one month before the proposed transfer is due to take place". Whether your own scheme's rules allow a move without consent is for the trustees to confirm, and their letter can be hard to decode; an adviser can explain it by phone, which the enquiry form on this page can set up.

What are HMRC's block transfer conditions?

HMRC's manual sets four tests, and a transfer must pass all of them to count as a block transfer for tax. Others must be moving with you; the whole move must be one transaction; it must take every right held under the scheme for each person included; and, before it happens, you must not have belonged to the receiving scheme for more than 12 months.

The manual explains "single transaction": "all of the sums and assets must be transferred from the transferring scheme to only one receiving scheme." It adds that the move must be made "under a single agreement for a single transfer between the two schemes". The assets need not all move on one day, but they should all go under that agreement within a reasonable timescale.

An old deferred pot in the receiving scheme counts as membership too, so it can rule you out. A part-move, leaving other rights behind in the same scheme, is not a block transfer. A scheme with only one member cannot normally make a block transfer, except on a winding up. The receiving scheme can be any type of registered pension scheme, personal pensions included.

What does a block transfer keep, and what could be lost?

Two protections are tied to this test. The first is a protected pension age below 55, which HMRC's manual calls the 2010 protected pension age; the newer protected age tied to the rise to 57 in 2028 follows different transfer rules. The second is scheme-specific lump sum protection, which lets some people with rights built up before 6 April 2006 take a tax-free lump sum above 25% of the value of their benefits. HMRC's manual states that "scheme-specific lump sum protection is lost unless the transfer is a block transfer". After a block transfer the receiving scheme is treated as the original protected scheme, and successive block transfers do not affect the protection.

There is a trap for the lump sum. If a block transfer goes to a scheme that is already protected for you, or has already received a block transfer of lump sum rights above 25% for you, HMRC says only one of the separate protected lump sum elements keeps its protection. How a protected pension age is kept, which version of it you hold and the 2028 changes are set out in protected pension age on transfer and protected pension ages. The tax treatment of ordinary moves is in pension transfer tax.

What should you check if your scheme says it is block transferring?

Ask the scheme for the details in writing, then check:

  • whether you hold a protected pension age or an old lump sum above 25%, and whether the receiving scheme will honour it;
  • whether the move is a single agreement covering all members and all your rights, or only part of your benefits;
  • whether you already belong to the receiving scheme, and for how long;
  • how your benefits will be valued, including any guarantees, spouse's pension and death benefits;
  • whether you are being asked to opt in or out, and by when.

The FCA's page on pension scams sets out how to check who you are dealing with before any pension moves. Unsure whether a merger notice puts your protection at risk? An FCA-authorised adviser can read the notice alongside you by phone, free, and this page's enquiry form arranges it.

Block and bulk transfer questions answered

What is a block pension transfer?

Two or more members' benefits move from one scheme to another as a single transaction. HMRC adds that everything held for those members goes, and you cannot already have belonged to the receiving scheme for more than 12 months.

Is a bulk transfer the same as a block transfer?

In everyday use the terms overlap, but HMRC's test is stricter. A group move that fails a condition can still go ahead as a bulk transfer without keeping the protections.

Do I have to agree to a bulk transfer?

Not always. Where the scheme's rules allow it and the regulation's conditions are met, rights can move without your agreement, though you must be sent details at least a month beforehand.

Can I choose a block transfer for myself?

No. It needs at least one other member moving with you under a single agreement between schemes. If you have a protection to keep and are unsure how the planned move is classed, ask the trustees, or have an adviser help you frame the question by requesting a call-back on this page.