I've just scoured the forum to see if this has been answered before - couldn't find anything so here goes ...


I have a friend who took early retirement from the teaching profession in UK. He gets his pension paid directly into a Spanish bank but is quite concerned with the direction the exchange rate is going.

I know he can 'transfer' his fund to spain but I think he has to have been here for five years first. Does he have any other options to minimize the impact of the exchange rate? In the last couple of months his pension has dropped over 50 euros and this is now beginning to hurt!

Thanks

Surely if he transfers the "fund" here, if thats what you mean, it will take the exchange hit all in one go and presumably you will never recover it.

Whilst the fund is UK based, he is taking the hit now, but hopefully it will recover when the economy does.

Does he get a decent rate of exchange from the pension managers? If not, maybe have it paid in the UK and use a commercial to do the transfer. Many do regular transfers on a no fee / no commission basis if it is a direct debit

Thanks for that. The problem is that everyone is forecasting that the sterling/euro conversion rate is heading towards parity. Some are even saying that this is actively being encouraged!

Taking the hit now may be the best option.

Regarding fund managers - I'm not sure who they are for the Teaching Pension given that it is a public sector pension.

I guess the thing to do would be to check the rate he gets with what he could have got commercially. The only 'commission' he pays is £1 admin fee.

I was under the impression that that type of government pension can never be moved from the UK tax mans clutches you can have it paid in Spain but not transfer the fund I know civil servants and police etc will always be taxed in the UK and can never op out of the UK tax system with regards their occupational pension, A private fund is another matter

The Teachers’ Pension must remain taxable in the UK as it is a Government Pension.

However if he wants to contact the scheme administrators they are Capita on 01325 745547 or www.teacherspensions.co.uk

We too are in the same position, due to both the exchange rate and the removal of the 10% tax band.

Hope this helps.

Yes you're right of course, for some reason I didn't even associate it with govt pension, clearly too much sun. Capita is the same manager as is for my wifes civil service pension

Thanks everyone. Clearly he's 'stuffed' then

Royally.
The only thing he can do is check if they are giving him competitive rates of exchange. If not then he can have it paid in the UK and transfer it himself

captia give excellent exchange rates

I heard that when we were discussing my wifes pension a year ago, but more recently someone posted somewhere about getting quite uncompetitive rates, thats why I mentioned it

Never mind Mitzy we always have the old index linking to cheer us up, Got 3.9 rise in April which was better than some of the pay rises people still working were getting,
Do miss the other two thirds of my salary exchanged for doing bugger all in the sun though
Just filled up the 4x4 this morning I used to get change from a fifty checked the gauge as I drove away from the pumps only now showing three quarters full have had to change from drinking bolly pinko to Cava hee hee The only thing I would return to the UK for would be to vote Boris into the London Mayors Job I think he.s a hoot. Livingstone pack your desk and leave town on a bendy bus Just had to smile kenneth Horn is just starting on Radio 7 ahhhhhh life is still good, Euros and pounds, Houses and rates may go up or down but your health and sunshine does cure all ailments in your head anyway