Opting Out
You are not required to be a member of the Fund. If you would like to opt out of membership, you will need to complete an opting out form, giving us at least one month’s notice.
The opting out enquiry form is available in the forms section below. We will send you details of the benefits you will be giving up if you choose to opt out and will ask you to complete an Opt Out Form before we will process your request.
Please seriously consider the benefits you will be giving up before you make this decision, these include;
- Valuable contributions by your employer towards your pension from the date you opt out
- If you have dependants, valuable benefits towards their security if anything should happen to you
You may want to take independent financial advice before making a final decision.
However, if you still decide to opt out of the Fund, you will be entitled to the same benefits as if you had left service, although you cannot draw a pension until you actually leave service.
If you do decide to opt out of the Fund, you will need to consider alternative arrangements for your retirement, although note that your employer will be required to auto-re-enrol you periodically in accordance with the auto enrolment legislation.
Further information can be found in our Guide to Opting Out.
Rejoining after opting out
If, after opting out, you want to rejoin the Fund, you may be able to do so if your employer and the Trustee both give their agreement. You must also be in good health and you may be asked for evidence of this. In any event, the law requires that you are automatically re-enrolled periodically.
You can obtain more details about this from the Fund Office.
Automatic enrolment
The Fund is a qualifying pension scheme for the purposes of automatic enrolment.
Automatic enrolment requires companies in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to automatically enrol (and periodically re-enrol if they have opted out) certain employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. The scheme must meet certain minimum legal standards, which the Fund, in fact, exceeds.
You can opt out of the Fund by requesting an opt out pack from the Fund Office, once the completed Opt Out form is returned we will advise payroll of your request.
As long as you remain eligible to join the Fund, then yest you can request to opt back into the Fund, you will need to complete an Opt In form and we will need information from your line manager.
Our Guide to Opting Out contains more detail, you may want to seek suitable independent financial advice if you are considering opting out of the Fund as you would be giving up valuable contributions paid into the Fund by your employer as benefits for both yourself and your dependants should anything happen to you.
We will request payroll to stop deducting contributions from the next available payroll.
If you have less than 2 years membership of the Fund you can request a refund of your contribution, and if your period of membership is less than 3 months the only option available is a refund of contributions. The amount payable will be the total of the contributions that you made to the Fund less tax, usually at 20 per cent.