Free pension transfer guidance: Pension Wise and MoneyHelper

Pension transfer guidance on scams comes from MoneyHelper, not Pension Wise, and regulated advice is a separate legal step for some transfers.

Three kinds of help get mixed up when people ask about pension transfer guidance: free guidance on taking a pension, free guidance on transfer scams, and paid regulated advice. They are different services with different triggers. Would you like an FCA-authorised adviser to test your own pensions against all this? This page's form is the way to request a phone call, at no charge.

Pension Wise, MoneyHelper or TPR: who gives what?

MoneyHelper provides both free services; The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is the regulator that tells schemes how to handle transfers.

• Pension Wise is about taking money from a defined contribution pension. MoneyHelper says a free Pension Wise appointment "explains the options for taking money from your defined contribution pension. It’s impartial and backed by government." See what Pension Wise is.
• Pensions safeguarding guidance is MoneyHelper’s separate appointment about transfer scams. It is the one the 2021 regulations refer to when a transfer looks risky.
• TPR sets out how schemes should handle transfer requests and publishes scam warning signs. Its page on avoiding and reporting scams is written for the pensions industry, and it asks schemes to pass the signs on to members.

Is a Pension Wise appointment the same as MoneyHelper transfer guidance?

No. TPR tells schemes to direct members to the safeguarding booking link for a specific reason: "to avoid them accidentally arranging a Pension Wise appointment (for over 50s about their DC pensions) or to obtain general MoneyHelper advice. These will not fulfil the requirement to have a pensions safeguarding guidance appointment."

That is why searches such as pension wise transfer or pension wise transfer form can mislead. A Pension Wise session can still be useful before you decide how to take a defined contribution pot, but it does not clear a transfer your scheme has held up.

When does a scheme have to require MoneyHelper guidance?

Under the 2021 Conditions for Transfers Regulations (SI 2021/1237), a scheme handling a statutory transfer that finds an "amber flag" must require the member to take the specified guidance. The regulations apply in England, Wales and Scotland. They define that guidance as "guidance in respect of pension transfer scams" given by the Money and Pensions Service, and the evidence is whatever that service provides to those who have completed it.

Regulation 9 sets amber flags of two kinds. Some are about your evidence: a partial reply, papers that may not be genuine or not sent by you, or no proof of the job or residency link the rules ask for. The rest are about where the money would go: risky, unregulated or overseas investments, high or unclear charges, an investment set-up that is hard to follow or out of the ordinary, or a sudden surge of transfers to the same scheme or through the same adviser. The pension transfer rules take each in turn.

Once the member has attended, TPR says they "will receive correspondence from MoneyHelper with a unique reference number", which the scheme needs before it goes ahead. Two practical points from TPR’s guidance for schemes: "Sessions must be booked and attended by the member, not any person acting on their behalf", and members consolidating more than one pension are advised to wait until all the transfers have been requested before booking, so the one appointment covers them. Having had the guidance, the member decides: TPR says that if they still wish to proceed, the scheme records the decision and arranges payment.

What happens if you skip the guidance?

A statutory transfer then stops. Once a scheme has required the guidance because of an amber flag, not sending it the MoneyHelper evidence is a red flag under regulation 8, and the Second Condition is met only when no red flag is present. Guidance does not clear the other red flags either: someone without the right regulatory status doing regulated work on the transfer, a request that began with an unsolicited marketing approach, an incentive to move (not counting one from the scheme you are leaving or its sponsoring employer), or a member who "has been, or considers that they have felt, pressured to make the transfer".

A scheme’s own rules may still allow a non-statutory transfer: TPR says "Your scheme rules may still allow you to make non-statutory transfers even when these risk indicators are present." It adds that the regulations do not stop one a scheme considers in the member’s interests and not a risk. For the full test, including the receiving schemes that skip the flag checks, see the pension transfer rules; for the practical steps see how to transfer a pension. Whether a flag fits your transfer turns on the receiving scheme, so you could request a call-back here and go over it with an FCA-authorised adviser.

Where does the £30,000 advice rule fit alongside the guidance?

It sits beside the guidance as a separate legal step, and neither stands in for the other. Section 48 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 covers members and survivors with safeguarded benefits (anything other than money purchase or cash balance benefits). Before converting those benefits into flexible ones, transferring them to acquire flexible benefits in another scheme (overseas ones included) or paying an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum from them, the trustees or managers must check that the person has had appropriate independent advice from an adviser holding the regulatory permission the rules require. The Act allows exceptions, and regulation 5 of SI 2015/742, as substituted from 6 April 2018, removes the check where "the transfer value of the member’s or survivor’s subsisting rights in respect of safeguarded benefits under the pension scheme is £30,000 or less on the valuation date."

The FCA adds a view on the decision itself: "The FCA and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) believe it’s in most people’s best interests to keep their DB pension. You can’t reverse a transfer, so you need to make sure you understand the risks so you can make an informed decision." The details of who must advise are on the advice requirement page, and weighing a final salary transfer covers what you give up.

How can you check for a pension transfer scam?

Start with who contacted whom. The FCA says: "If you get a call out of the blue (a cold call) about your pension, the safest thing to do is hang up. It’s illegal and probably a scam." It also says "Never take advice from the company that contacted you." TPR says "Cold calling about pensions is illegal and likely a sign of a scam", and adds that many of its warning signs are the same ones schemes treat as red and amber flags.

Then check the firm. The FCA publishes a Warning List of unauthorised firms and a firm checker, and takes reports on 0800 111 6768. The FCA’s pension scams page holds all of it. If you think you have been targeted, how to report a pension scam lists where to go, and how pension scams work goes through the tactics.

Common queries about the MoneyHelper appointment

Do I pay for a pensions safeguarding appointment?

MoneyHelper describes the appointment a scheme can ask for as a free Pension Safeguarding Guidance appointment. Regulated advice before a large defined benefit transfer is a separate step: MoneyHelper says the cost falls on you unless your employer has offered you a financial incentive to leave the scheme, and then your employer must pay.

Can MoneyHelper stop my transfer?

No. TPR says the guidance is there to help identify common risks in transfers, highlight the dangers of scams and let you consider whether to go ahead. Whether the legal conditions for the transfer are met is for your scheme to decide.

What proof of guidance does my scheme want?

If you were looking for a Pension Wise transfer form, the proof a scheme looks for is the reference number MoneyHelper sends after a safeguarding appointment. Ask your scheme how it wants to receive it.

Does the scheme always have to ask for this guidance?

Only when it finds an amber flag. Whether your own transfer has one depends on the receiving scheme and the evidence you give, so ask your current scheme or an adviser. Who to approach is on free pension help.

Weighing up a move? Ask for a call-back using this form; an FCA-authorised adviser will walk through the guidance steps with you, free of charge.

Sources, read on 26 and 29 October 2026 (TPR’s scams page as an Internet Archive copy at web.archive.org, captured 9 August 2026): SI 2021/1237, regulation 9, regulation 8 and regulation 1; section 48, Pension Schemes Act 2015; regulation 5, SI 2015/742 (as substituted by SI 2017/1272); TPR guidance for schemes on handling transfer requests (updated 12 January 2023); TPR, Avoid and report pension scams; MoneyHelper, Pension Wise; MoneyHelper, transferring your defined benefit pension; FCA on defined benefit transfers (updated 24/04/2025); FCA, pension scams (last updated 19/01/2026).