Getting help and advice

When you’re coming up to retirement, or thinking ahead to when that day comes, you have a lot of choices to make.

These are choices that can affect your own future, as well as the money you leave behind if you die.

 Things to think about, include:

• when you will retire
• the ways to take the pension benefits or Personal Retirement Account (PRA) you’ve spent years building up

 Luckily, there's plenty of guidance and support available to help you understand your choices and the retirement process.

Here’s a quick overview. 

What you can get help with

• Your options when you retire - it's important you understand your options and choose what's best for your needs. You can find out more here
• Budgeting and planning - retirement can mean a big change to your lifestyle and finances so you need to plan ahead and know what to expect.  You can find out if your savings are on track here
• Tax – if you're unsure how your pension benefits will be taxed once you receive them, you can find clear, jargon-free information on the gov.uk website.
• Your State Pension – this is different to your workplace pension. When, and how much you receive with your State Pension, is set by the Government. You'll find a calculator to help you work out your State Pension age and how much State Pension you might get on the gov.uk website.  
  

Guidance on your transfer and retirement options

If you’re aged 50 or over and request to transfer out or take any defined contribution benefits, you may need to obtain free guidance on your retirement options from Pension Wise before we can go ahead with your application. 

You can find out more on the Guidance on your transfer and retirement options page.

Advice service with Liverpool Victoria

The Scheme’s administrator, Railpen, has appointed Liverpool Victoria (LV) to provide advice to all RPS members.  This includes DB members, as well as those in the IWDC section. 

 LV covers all areas of advice, including:

• retirement
• financial planning
• tax support
• transfers

 It also has a dedicated team, with specific knowledge on the Scheme. 

LV will be offering its services at a discounted rate for RPS members.

• For DB members, this is priced at £1995 for any type of advice
• For IWDC members, it’s 2% of the fund value, with a cap of £7.5k.
• Members who have both a DB and a DC pension can pay £1995 for the DB service, plus an additional £500 to cover DC.

You can also discuss any other pension benefits you might have at the same time.  

While we understand LV is not the cheapest on the market, this service was carefully chosen based on both quality and cost.

Financial advice is optional in most cases, including if you are an IWDC member taking your benefits. However if you are a DB member looking to transfer to a DC arrangement and have a transfer value of £30,000 or more, you are legally obligated to seek advice before any transfer can be made.

LV can be contacted now on 0800 023 4187.

You are still free to choose your own Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). And you can find an IFA in your area at unbiased.co.uk.

Other useful sources of information:

You can find a variety of information in the Planning for Retirement section of the website and in the video library. 

If you have specific questions about your pension, you may find the answers by logging in to your myRPS account or, if it's urgent, by contacting us directly.

You can also find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) in your area at unbiased.co.uk – just be sure to go with someone who has knowledge and experience in pensions, rather than a generic financial adviser.

MoneyHelper from the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) brings together the support and services of three government-backed financial guidance providers: Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. It offers free support on a wide range of financial matters, online and over the phone. This covers a variety of pension topics, including:

• Auto enrolment
• Building your retirement pot
• Pension problems
• Pension basics
• State Pension
• Taking your pension
• Tax and pensions
• Pensions and retirement

For more information, visit https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement