Transferring a Prudential pension: what to check first

A Prudential pension transfer starts with a request, a quote and forms; check exit fees, with-profits reductions and guarantees before you move it.

Prudential now describes itself as part of M&G, but a transfer into or out of one of its pensions still runs through Prudential's own paperwork, and what you could lose depends on the type of plan you hold. Prudential says "Pension transfers are a complex area of financial planning, and getting the decision wrong could significantly impact the benefits you receive." Setting a Prudential transfer against your other savings is where an FCA-authorised adviser helps, and a free phone appointment starts with this page's short form.

Which Prudential pension do you have, and does it change the transfer?

Yes, because Prudential's pages treat each plan type differently. A personal pension, a Retirement Account, a drawdown plan, a group personal pension and a deferred annuity each carry their own transfer notes, so start with the name on your latest statement.

For the Retirement Account and the Pension Choices drawdown plan, "You’ll have to transfer your whole fund." The personal pension page is more flexible: "You might not need to transfer your entire plan – call us to find out more." A deferred annuity is usually part of an employer's defined benefit arrangement, and its transfer is covered in the advice section below.

Cannot find the plan at all? Tracing an old Prudential pension comes first.

How do you transfer a pension out of Prudential?

You ask Prudential for a transfer quote, return its discharge paperwork and the new provider's declaration, and Prudential pays the new scheme once its checks are complete. Prudential's guide to these steps covers group personal pensions and stakeholder plans only.

That guide says you can ask by telephone, in writing or by email, and Prudential may ask for further information to satisfy regulatory requirements before it pays.

The same guide asks for two different forms of ID, one showing your name and date of birth and one your name and address, and it cannot use ID sent by email.

Prudential's general helpline is 0800 000 000; its customer service teams are "unable to give financial advice". Plan pages give 0345 640 1000 for a personal pension and 0808 234 2372 for the Retirement Account and Pension Choices plan. The general steps are in our transfer guide.

How do you transfer a pension into a Prudential plan?

For a Prudential personal pension you complete a transfer application form, and the administrator of the pension you are leaving completes part of it too. Prudential's number for questions about the form is 0345 640 2000. If you do not name a fund, the form says the money goes into the Prudential With-Profits Pension Fund, and it lets you pick unit-linked funds only if you have invested in them before.

The form also asks what type of pension you are leaving, including whether it holds safeguarded benefits such as a guaranteed annuity rate (GAR). For the Retirement Account, Prudential "can only accept transfers from another pension scheme if you have received a recommendation from your adviser to proceed with the transfer". If your transfer includes pension sharing, earmarking, a guaranteed minimum pension or a block transfer, its Retirement Account form says to contact Prudential before the transfer takes place.

What is the market value reduction on a Prudential transfer?

It is a cut Prudential may make to the value you receive when you leave its with-profits fund, so you can get less than your last statement showed. Prudential says it applies MVRs case by case, may apply one when the plan is worth more than the assets behind it, and lists cashing in or transferring a plan among the triggers.

The size of an MVR is not fixed: it depends on what your plan is worth, bonuses included, and how the fund has performed while you were invested. Prudential says it may change its MVR practice at any time without prior notice, and guarantees not to apply an MVR if the investor has died or at the selected or normal retirement date of a pension plan.

So timing can matter. Ask whether a quote is before or after any MVR and how long it stays valid. What an MVR is and whether to move a with-profits pension have the wider picture. Once a Prudential quote arrives, an adviser can explain what any with-profits reduction means for you, and a request through this page's short form brings that free call-back.

Which guarantees could you lose by leaving Prudential?

Possibly several, and Prudential's own pages warn about it in strong terms. The personal pension page says guarantees, benefits, options and features under the existing plan "may be lost", while the Retirement Account and drawdown pages say they "will be lost".

For conventional with-profits plans first issued by Scottish Amicable (SALAS), Prudential's guide says the sum assured and attaching bonuses are guaranteed, but "the guarantee only applies if you move out of our With-Profits Fund at particular times", such as the specified normal retirement date. Ask whether your transfer date is one of them.

Worth listing before you decide: any guaranteed annuity rate, a guaranteed minimum pension, a fixed retirement date and a protected pension age.

Does a Prudential transfer need advice, and what is the £30,000 rule?

Yes, once the safeguarded benefits are worth more than £30,000. Prudential's deferred annuity page says: "If the transfer value is over £30,000, you must get advice from a regulated financial adviser before the transfer can be paid." The law behind it is regulation 5 of SI 2015/742, which lifts the section 48(1) advice check of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 where the transfer value of the safeguarded benefits is "£30,000 or less on the valuation date".

That value is worked out before any reductions for an underfunded scheme. For a deferred annuity, Prudential provides up to two transfer value quotes in any 12-month period.

For a defined benefit pension such as a deferred annuity, the FCA says "The FCA and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) believe it’s in most people’s best interests to keep their DB pension", and a completed transfer cannot be reversed. Finding a pension transfer specialist and how final salary pensions work explain the next steps.

Prudential pension transfer questions

What does a Prudential pension transfer cost?

Prudential's personal pension page warns that leaving a plan "may incur an exit fee", and the with-profits reduction above can lower the amount paid. Your statement shows the charges on your plan; transfer costs in general have their own page.

Is a Prudential pension risk transfer the same thing?

No. Pension risk transfer is when the trustees of a defined benefit scheme insure its pensions with an insurer through a buy-in or buy-out, an option The Pensions Regulator lists; this page covers you moving your own pension. What pension risk transfer means for members explains it.

Can I move Prudential money overseas?

Only in limited cases. Prudential's guide for group personal and stakeholder pensions requires a QROPS recognised by HMRC, a country whose law allows a transfer in from a UK approved scheme, and HMRC's letter confirming QROPS status. See QROPS.

Could an unexpected transfer offer be a scam?

It could be. 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." Use a number printed on Prudential's own documents, and see the FCA's pension scams guidance.

Can I get free guidance before I decide?

If you are 50 or over, Pension Wise offers free, impartial guidance. Prefer to talk your Prudential plan over? Give a name and number in the short form here, and when it suits you an FCA-authorised adviser phones, at no cost.