QROPS advice must come from an FCA-authorised UK adviser for some transfers. Here is when, what they check and how to verify one.

Choosing who advises you on a transfer abroad deserves as much care as the transfer itself. Whatever you decide about moving money overseas, a UK adviser can look at your own pension first: the form on this page brings an FCA-authorised one back to you by phone, free. Whether that adviser can then advise on an overseas transfer is worth asking during the call. This page covers the UK position only: tax and pension rules in the country where you live are a separate question for advice there.

When the law requires advice before a QROPS transfer

The law requires it for some pensions only. The FCA puts it plainly for a defined benefit scheme: "If the value of your DB scheme is more than £30,000 you must, by law, get advice from a regulated financial adviser." The legal test is written for safeguarded benefits, meaning rights that promise a guaranteed income, such as a final salary pension. Regulation 5 of SI 2015/742, as substituted from 6 April 2018, lifts the duty to check for advice under section 48(1) of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 only where, on the valuation date, the transfer value of those safeguarded rights comes to £30,000 or below; above that, the check is required.

The transfer value is the amount the scheme would pay if you transferred. Your scheme administrator provides it, and the FCA says it is only guaranteed for 3 months, so shortlist advisers before you ask. Pension transfer value explains the figure, and when advice is required before a transfer covers the rule.

If your pot has no safeguarded benefits, ask the scheme what it needs from you before it will pay out overseas. Either way, the FCA tells anyone changing their pension arrangements to get guidance or advice first. For final salary pensions it goes further: "The FCA and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) believe it’s in most people’s best interests to keep their DB pension." Nothing here is a reason to transfer; what a final salary pension gives you shows what would be given up.

Is a QROPS adviser FCA regulated? How to check

A UK adviser is regulated only if the firm, and the person you deal with, appear on the Financial Services Register with permission for the service on offer. The FCA says this about the register: "In the UK, nearly all financial service activities must be authorised or registered by us." It also says you can check the register "to make sure a firm or individual is authorised and has permission for the service it’s offering you". For defined benefit transfers, the firms that can give advice are listed there as "advising on pension transfers and opt-outs".

Four things are worth looking at on the register entry:

  • The firm’s details, matched against what you were given. The register also records details unauthorised firms give out, and clone firms, which falsely claim to be from a genuine authorised firm.
  • The permissions, not just the word "authorised".
  • Whether the firm is an appointed representative, meaning it works under another firm called its principal. The FCA says that if an appointed representative goes beyond the activities its principal allows, you may not be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
  • The individual adviser, whose current role and any regulatory action on record the FCA says to check.

The same check applies to any company you have come across in search results for QROPS: the register entry decides whether a firm is authorised, and its website cannot. The FCA also keeps a Warning List of firms it has published warnings about.

The FCA adds a warning for advisers outside the UK: "if you’re overseas and using non-UK firms to advise you, you may not have the same level of protection, and there may be extra charges or commissions." How to find a regulated adviser near you is covered on finding a pension adviser, and pension transfer specialists explains the qualification behind defined benefit advice.

What a UK adviser looks at before an overseas transfer

These are the UK-side points to have covered in writing before any money moves. They are questions to put to an adviser, not a promise of what any one firm will do.

Which tax exclusion the transfer relies on

GOV.UK says you may have to pay 25% tax on a transfer to a QROPS, depending on where the scheme is based and your available overseas transfer allowance, and moving country within 5 years of the transfer can change the position. Ask which exclusion, if any, the transfer relies on, and what happens to the charge if your plans change. The exclusions are set out on whether a QROPS is a good idea, and the rules behind them on HMRC’s QROPS rules.

The ROPS list and the scheme itself

A scheme’s place on HMRC’s notification list is a first check at most, because HMRC does not guarantee the schemes on it; what matters is what has been checked about the receiving scheme beyond the listing. Checking HMRC’s QROPS list walks through it, and QROPS vs ROPS explains the two labels.

Scheme charges and currency

Ask for every charge in writing: what the scheme takes, what any intermediary takes and what investment managers take, with the yearly total. Several groups each taking a fee is one of the FCA's scam warning signs, because the combined deduction can be large. Ask too which currency the pension is held and paid in, compared with the one you will spend, and who carries any exchange-rate movement. Charges and currency are worth weighing against your own pension, a job for the free call an FCA-authorised adviser returns via the form on this page; ask then whether overseas schemes sit within their remit.

Tax after the money arrives

Payments from the overseas scheme can still bring a UK tax bill for some people, and GOV.UK ties that to the years you were a UK resident. How the country where you live taxes the scheme is a separate matter, which an adviser qualified there needs to cover before you commit.

Questions to ask any adviser before you hire them

Beyond the register, a few direct questions tell you a lot. Ask which permissions the firm holds and who in the firm will advise you. Ask who contacted whom: the FCA says "Never take advice from the company that contacted you."

Ask what the advice costs and when you pay. In the FCA’s account of defined benefit transfer advice, "Your adviser must tell you how much they charge for advice", and "In most cases, you will need to pay the same amount for full advice, whether or not you go ahead with a transfer." What advisers typically charge is on pension advice cost.

Ask for a written recommendation. For defined benefit advice the FCA expects a suitability report that sets out the recommendation, the reasoning and the risks and benefits of transferring or staying. If you also want free guidance first, MoneyHelper offers it and guidance on transferring a pension lists the routes. Ask, too, who regulates the receiving scheme and what protection you would have if it failed. A vague answer is itself information.

Scam red flags when choosing a QROPS company

When picking a firm to move money abroad, hold any offer against the FCA’s warning signs, set out on how pension scams work. The Pensions Regulator lists phrases such as "loophole", "savings advance" and "cashback" among common signs of a pension scam.

On approaches, the FCA says cold calls about pensions are illegal, and it treats a no-charge review offered out of the blue as a probable scam. In its words: "Professional advice on pensions is not free." Some scammers even say they act for the FCA or MoneyHelper, which is why the register is the test and a caller’s word is not.

Your UK scheme is a safeguard too. The Pensions Regulator tells schemes that for a transfer to a QROPS they "must request evidence from the member to either establish overseas residency or an employment link". Where the receiving scheme is not a QROPS at all, GOV.UK says your UK scheme may refuse, or you will pay at least 40% tax on the transfer.

If something feels wrong, how to report a pension scam lists who to tell, and the FCA takes reports on 0800 111 6768.

More on choosing a QROPS adviser

Does the FCA regulate the overseas scheme itself?

The FCA register covers UK-authorised firms and the people in them. A QROPS is based outside the UK, and which regulator supervises it depends on the country. Treat the adviser check and the scheme check as two separate jobs.

Can I use a QROPS adviser based abroad?

You can, but check first whether the firm is on the FCA register for the advice it offers. If it is not, ask which regulator, complaints route and compensation scheme would cover you where it is based, given the FCA’s warning above about protection.

Can I get QROPS advice for free?

Free guidance exists, and free pension help lists it, but the FCA says professional advice on pensions is not free. An unsolicited offer of a free review is a recognised scam sign.

Is HMRC’s list the same as the FCA register?

No. HMRC’s list is of overseas schemes that told it they meet the ROPS conditions. The FCA register is of UK-authorised firms and people. A scheme being on one tells you nothing about an adviser being on the other.

Can I get UK pension advice if I already live abroad?

UK rules and UK tax can still matter after you move, because GOV.UK links any UK tax on payments from an overseas scheme to your years of UK residence. What happens to a pension when you move abroad goes through the options.

Anyone weighing a transfer abroad can use the enquiry form here; the adviser who phones back will look at your own pension, and the call costs nothing. Do that before signing anything.

Sources, read 26 October 2026: FCA, pension transfer advice: what to expect; FCA, pension scams; FCA, defined benefit transfers; FCA, Financial Services Register; SI 2015/742, regulation 5; GOV.UK, transferring to an overseas pension scheme; HMRC ROPS notification list; The Pensions Regulator, avoid and report pension scams and dealing with transfer requests.