I have a personal pension in the UK which I'm trying to get access to for drawing down. Problem is the current providor holding the pension has changed the rules since we left the UK and won't allow draw down for anyone not living in the UK, despite still having a UK bank account.
They tell me it has to be transferred to a UK providor that will allow expats to draw down. Ive tried most of the ones i know and they all say the same thing..not living in the UK
not eligable..
The only one I can find that will work with overseas residents is Pensionbee ??
Does anyone have any experience good or bad with them ??
Appreciate any feedback before I commit to moving it to them ..

I use them, if you meet all the criteria to set up the account then they are OK.
Mr Angry will be along soon with a rant

Thank you !

I chose PensionBee when I consolidated all my defined contribution plans with 7 different employers accumulated while I was working in the UK. My thinking was that it would be so much easier to manage and monitor when I moved to Canada. It has been 7 years now and so far, so good.
I am getting close to drawing down now, so would appreciate hearing about your experiences of the ease, difficulty and especially the tax withholdings.

The process with PensionBee was easy and took about a week to drop into the bank, I only took a small amount from the "TAX Free section" to make sure the bank set up was correct etc
(which of course I'll declare to CRA on my return) .

I've still to complete the forms for HMRC to request a No Tax code and hoping to have them provide the code before drawing any more down then I dont have the hassle of trying to claim the tax back from the UK. We'll see how that goes !

Thank you, 3JJJ
I was thinking of doing the same, except choosing taxable withdrawals so that I would know for sure that NT code had been applied before I withdrew larger sums.
From what I can tell, a withdrawal of £10 ought to have tax withheld if a NT code is not yet in place. After asking the question from Pensionbee several times, I received the reply "Any value of taxable withdrawal made will be notified to the HMRC, thus triggering them to then provide tax codes for future withdrawals made."
Hope this helps, please us posted as you go through the process with Pensionbee!

I've made several withdrawals so far, very easy actually. some comments from a Japan perspective.
Tax withholdings. I found that when taking funds from the taxable portion, sometimes I paid tax, sometimes not. Then without having to make any claim, later I received a tax rebate. This has happened multiple times.
I finally figured out that if I keep withdrawals within the personal allowance, tax will not be withheld. So, if I take 1000 GBP per calendar month, they will not withhold tax. That's my plan for this FY, I'll update next month if it helps.

I will follow up the NT situation, but complications here. Japanese tax office doesn't like the dedicated DDT form for Japan as it's written in English. HMRC won't accept the Japanese alternative which is bilingual. 1st world problems eh?

Thanks, Jakeinaka!

That's great to hear that Pensionbee doesn't withhold even without a NT code, if the withdrawals from the taxable portion are under the UK personal allowance amount. Also great to hear about the automatic tax refund - did these come from Pensionbee or from HMRC?

Sorry to hear about the first-world translation problems. You would think that of all the countries in the world, Japan would have the technology to accurately translate the HMRC forms into the local language. It blows my mind that HMRC won't accept a bi-lingual version. Sounds like a case of "my form is better than yours"

I am also having issues with accessing pension funds. They will not allow me to move to a drawdown unless I see a financial advisor, but a financial advisor won't talk to me as a non-resident. Investengine allows you to create and manage an account without having to seek financial advice all the time.

Another issue that has occurred at pension age is , how do I get my wife access to my UK assets? She is non-residet, non-UK citizen. Apparently I can put her on an UK LPA, but I'm not sure what will happen to my bank accounts, I also have rental property there. Also the LPA ceases to be in effect after my death, how will this work? Has anyone dealt with this situation?

To clarify, from my experience, they will withhold if my withdrawal is outside the personal allowance ~ 1K/ month. (Tax code is 1257L)
When they have done, the rebates actually came from Pensionbee. I have had no communication with HMRC at all, which was unexpected.

Is this with Pensionbee? Was thinking to sign up as my current provider won't allow non resident access

I found this article which appears to clearly explain the difficulties in having a UK pension
UK Pension for Non-UK Resident Beneficiaries | SJB GlobalFor non-UK residents and British expats, choices are often restricted compared with those available to UK residents:

• Annuities are generally not available to non-UK residents through UK pension schemes.
• Drawdown may be limited because many providers now treat it as cross-border business and cannot maintain such arrangements with non-UK residents.
• A lump sum payment may therefore be the only realistic option in some cases.

Not sure if this counts but I had a phone discussion with Pension Wise before I started to drawdown, just to make sure I wasn't dropping myself in the brown stuff.
I have my wife recorded as my beneficiary, not British, never lived there, no bank account there. I won't get into what some clown advised me or her to do.

We had a meeting with pensionwise when last in the UK visiting and he reminded us that if you are already receiving a UK state pension,
that will eat into your personal allowance so expect to be taxed on anything extra, hence the reason Im looking to complete that form for an NT code..

Plan on calling HMRC when Im in the UK next month.

You can reclaim tax if you are not UK resident