Deferred pensioners

If you left active service of SPS (i.e. you no longer work for Thomson Reuters or Refinitiv and pay no contributions to SPS) before 6 April 2006 you can draw your pension benefits from age 55 years. If you left active service after 5 April 2006 you are entitled to draw your benefits from age 50 years. Should you retire before your Normal Retirement Age your benefits will be reduced to reflect the earlier (and potentially longer) payment.  Alternatively, you may wait to draw your pension benefits at your normal retirement age.  You can transfer your accrued benefits to another pension arrangement at any age. If you choose to delay drawing your pension your accrued Pension benefits will continue to increase in value.

If you have left Thomson Reuters or Refinitiv you can no longer pay contributions to SPS but you have various pension options before you reach your Normal Retirement Age.  Your Normal retirement Age will have been confirmed by a letter from SPS sent to you shortly after you left the Company.  If you no longer have that letter, then please contact the Refinitiv Member Services Centre.

Pension options before reaching normal retirement age

Your pension options before reaching normal retirement age are: -

1. If you ceased membership of SPS before 6 April 2006 you can draw your retirement pension benefits from the age of 55 years.  If you left service after 5 April 2006, you can draw your pension benefits from the age of 50 years. However, your pension benefits will be reduced to reflect the earlier (and potentially longer) payment of benefits to you.
    
2. You can transfer the values of your accrued benefits to another pension arrangement.  You can do this at any age, but you must decide to do this before you draw any pension benefits from SPS.  Any transfer must comply with UK statutory rules on Pensions Freedom and in most cases you are required to take independent professional advice before making the transfer. A number of independent financial advisors (IFA) have now adopted a Gold Standard to ensure that you get good advice. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also published a paper on defined benefit pension transfers. SPS will provide one free transfer valuation in any rolling 12 month period and guarantee this for three months from the date it is calculated.

If you wish to exercise any of the above options, please contact the Refinitiv Member Services Centre.

Pension options at normal retirement age

The Refinitiv Member Services Centre will send you a pension retirement pack around 6 months before your Normal Retirement Age which will include details of the estimated pension to be paid and tax-free lump sum commutation options. You can choose to take a tax-free lump sum and a reduced pension or a higher pension and no cash. If you choose to take cash on retirement, this will not affect the benefits payable in the event of your death. Additional options such as an uplift for unmarried members or a higher spouse's pension on death (by sacrificing part of your own pension) are available. Please ask the  Refinitiv Member Services Centre about these options as soon as you start your retirement process from SPS as they must be chosen at least 6 months before the benefits are put into payment.

Death benefits

If you die before you retire then a lump sum equal to your contributions plus compound interest is payable to you at the discretion of the Trustee discretion.  The lump sum benefit falls outside the current UK Inheritance tax rules.  The Trustee will consider awarding the death benefit to a preferred beneficiary if an Expression of Wish form has been completed and sent to the Refinitiv Member Services Centre.

Retiring early due to serious ill-health

If you are in serious ill-health you may be able to start drawing your benefits early and in some cases you may be allowed to take a higher lump sum, at the discretion of the Trustee. Medical evidence of your health is required. You should contact the Refinitiv Member Services Centre for more information about serious ill-health retirement. Please note that if you do not qualify for serious ill-health retirement, even if your health is poor you will not be able to access your SPS benefits before the minimum age that applies to you (as explained above).