Leaving and your deferred benefits

If you stop saving into the DC Section, you will become a deferred member, unless you opt out within 30 days of joining.

If you have deferred benefits in the Defined Benefit (DB) Section, you can find out more about them in the DB Section of this website.

Opting out of the DC Section

Could you afford to live on the State Pension? Contributing to a pension now means you may have to make fewer adjustments to your lifestyle when you retire and opting out is likely to have a big impact on your income in retirement.

But you won't only miss out on your own contributions, you'll also miss out on:

• contributions from Lloyd's Register
• benefits for your dependants if you die while you work with Lloyd's Register
• income protection cover
• returns on investments and compound interest any fund growth

If you opt out within 30 days of joining the DC Section, you can call Standard Life on 0345 272 8837. After 30 days, you can get a form by emailing Group Pensions at group.pensions@lr.org

You can re-join the DC Section at any time by contacting Group Pensions.

If you remain an employee of Lloyd's Register, by law we'll have to automatically re-enrol you into the DC Section — this usually happens every three years. We'll let you know if we're about to re-enrol you.

What happens to your benefits

If you leave the DC Section, you have a number of options depending on when you joined and how long you've been a member. Generally, you can leave your savings in the DC Section as a deferred pension, or you can transfer the value or your savings into another registered pension arrangement.

If you joined the DC Section on or after 1 October 2015, your options will depend on how long you were a member as outlined below:

* If you have less than 30 days' membership, you will receive a refund based on the value of your employee contributions less tax. You won't receive any benefits from Lloyd's Register when you retire.

If you leave Lloyd's Register and join a new employer's pension and your pension account in the DC Section is small, we may automatically transfer the value of your account into your new employer's scheme.

If you joined the DC Section and earned benefits before 1 October 2015 and leave the Scheme, your options will depend on the length of your membership as outlined below:

If you decide to leave the DC Section before you retire and you have less than two years' membership you can:

1. Transfer the value of your pension account into another pension arrangement provided you have at least three months' membership. If you do this, you won't receive any benefits from Lloyd's Register when you retire, but you will not lose the value of Lloyd's Register's contributions as these will be transferred into your new pension scheme.
2. Receive a refund based on the value of your employee contributions, minus deductions for tax and National Insurance. If you do this, you won't receive any benefits from Lloyd's Register when you retire, nor will you receive the value of any Lloyd's Register's contributions. Any contributions paid into your account through salary exchange are paid by Lloyd's Register and so aren't eligible to be refunded.

If you have two or more years' membership you can:

1. Leave your pension account invested in the DC Section — this is referred to as a 'deferred pension'.
2. Transfer the value of your pension account to another pension arrangement. If you do this, you won't receive any benefits from Lloyd's Register when you retire, but you won't lose the value of Lloyd's Register's contributions because they'll be transferred into your new pension scheme.

Your benefits in the DC Section are 'flexible benefits'. This means you normally have a right to transfer your pension account at any time until you retire as long as you stop contributing to the DC Section before transferring. If you don't meet the legal conditions for a transfer, you may still be able to transfer some or all of your pension account if the Trustee consents.

Remaining a deferred member

If you leave the DC Section before you retire, but keep your pension account invested in the DC Section, you will become a 'deferred member'.

As a deferred member, your pension account can normally be used to provide benefits at normal retirement date (age 65). You may be able to take your benefits earlier or later than that if Lloyd's Register and the Trustee agree. By law, you can't access your pension before age 55 (this is rising to age 57 in 2028). Please note charges may apply depending on the option you select for your benefits.

You can find out more about your options as a deferred member from Standard Life Pensions, and you'll still receive an annual benefit statement outlining the value of your account.

As a deferred member, you won't be able to make any more contributions to your DC Section account, but it will remain invested according to your existing investment choices. To find out more about your investments and to make changes to your account, log in to your Standard Life account.

Death benefits as a deferred member

If you die as a deferred member, the Trustee will be able to use the value of your DC Section account to provide benefits to your surviving dependants. This amount may be paid as a cash sum, or used to purchase a pension for your dependants at the discretion of the Trustee. Remember that if you transfer your benefits to another pension scheme, no benefits will be paid by the DC Section. If we cannot find eligible dependant(s) to pay pensions to, your pensions account will be held by the Trustee and paid as a lump sum at their discretion.

Although the Trustee decides who receives your death benefits, you guide that decision by completing a Nomination of Beneficiary form. It's really important that you update this regularly so that your nominations reflect your current circumstances. If you're a deferred member, you can do this through Standard Life.