FAQs

You cannot cancel or cash in your policy.

However, you don’t have to take your pension as an income. Other possible options are:

• exchanging your pension in full for a single lump sum (please see ‘What pension will you pay me?’), or

• transferring your policy to another pension scheme (please see ‘Can I transfer my policy to another pension scheme?’).

The rules are complex, so if you’d like more information on the options available to you, please contact us.

You can’t change the pension we’re due to pay you. The trustees of your previous scheme have told us the pension that’s due to you and any beneficiaries.

The payments due to you are shown in your policy document and they should be exactly the same as you’d have received from the previous scheme, unless the trustees of that scheme have told you otherwise.

If you believe the payments shown in your policy schedule are wrong, please contact us as soon as you can.

Early retirement

You can choose to start receiving your pension earlier than your normal retirement date, at any time on or after your 55th birthday. This will change in 2028 when it will need to be on or after your 57th birthday.

Part or all of your pension may be reduced as a result, to reflect the fact that you are taking an income early. We work out the amount of this reduction based on the date you start taking payments. If you want to take your pension early, please contact us to confirm the pension we will pay you.

If you’re seriously ill, you may be able to take your pension before age 55. To find out whether you’re eligible for this option, please contact us.

Late retirement

You can choose to start receiving your pension after your normal retirement date, as long as this is before your 75th birthday.

Your pension will increase as a result, to reflect the fact you’re taking your benefits after your normal retirement date. We work out future payments based on the date you choose to start taking payments. If you want to take your pension late, please contact us to confirm the pension we will pay you.

If you want to take your pension at any time other than your normal retirement date, or you want any information on these options, please contact us.

You can transfer your policy to another pension scheme. You will have this option at any age until you reach age 65.

When you’re deciding whether to transfer, you may need to get professional financial advice. This is to protect you. A financial adviser can help you understand all the options available and make sure the pension scheme you choose is right for your circumstances. There will normally be a charge for the financial adviser’s service.

The Money Helper website can help you find a professional financial adviser.

To find out the transfer value of your pension, please contact us. To help us deal with your enquiry, please have your National Insurance number to hand when you call.

If you ask for more than one quote in a 12 month period, we may charge you for every additional request within the remainder of the 12 month period

If you have a complaint about how we administer your policy, please let us know using the contact details below. To help us deal with your enquiry, please have your policy number and National Insurance number to hand when you call.

0800 316 6765 (Freephone) or from overseas: +44 (0)1298 890 254 (call rates apply). Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm. Please note, calls may be monitored for training and audit purposes.

E-mail us: just@mercer.com

Write to us: Just Retirement Limited, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 0FP

If you’re not happy with our response, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You can write to them at Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR or call them on 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123.

Making a complaint won’t affect your right to take legal action.

In order to provide our services to policyholders, we may need to process personal information about you, members of your family, beneficiaries (people who may become entitled to benefits under the policy) and any other people connected to the scheme.

Our policyholder privacy notice describes how we process, may share and protect the personal information of our individual defined benefit annuity policyholders.

Pension – the pension income payments and any lump sum we pay you, as shown in your benefit schedule.

Policy document – the document made up of the policy schedule, the benefit schedule, and the terms and conditions of your annuity policy. The policy document forms a contract for your annuity policy (your policy). The terms and conditions of your policy are governed by the law of England and Wales. The contract is written in English

Benefit schedule – part of the policy document. It sets out the terms of your pension.

Guarantee period – a set period of time after payments from your pension started. If you die during the guarantee period, any pension payments that you would have received during the remainder of the guarantee period are paid as a lump sum (the guarantee-period lump sum) to a qualifying dependant or child.

Dependant’s pension or children’s pension – a pension paid to a qualifying person, such as a husband, wife or civil partner, or a qualifying child (as defined in your policy document), after your death.

Tax-free lump sum - an amount of money you may choose to receive for giving up part of your pension.

Welcome pack

When you become a policyholder of Just, we send you a Welcome Pack containing:

• Your policy and member guide

• A privacy notice

• A brochure about Just

After this pack is sent, we’ll send a letter with your personal activation code for Benpal: our benefits portal which lets you update your details online.

Wake-up pack

If you’re not already receiving pension income from your Just individual annuity, we write to you 12 months before your Normal Retirement Date about your options.

P60

Once we’ve started paying your pension, we’ll send you a P60 every year. This is sent during April and May, so if you’ve not received it by the start of June, please contact us. If you’ve registered for Benpal, you can view your P60s online.

Payslip

Once we’ve started paying your pension, we’ll send you a pension payslip once a year. If you’ve registered for Benpal, you can view your payslips online. If your monthly pension payments change by £5 or more after tax, we’ll send another payslip to explain the change. We want to keep your personal information safe, so we’ve decided to remove national insurance numbers from payslips.

How we make our communications easier to understand

We know that for many people pensions are a complex subject. So as members of the Plain English Campaign, we aim to make our communications, including this website, as clear as possible, avoiding jargon, making the information clear and easy to digest.

We’ve rewritten nearly all our policyholders communications to plain English standards and many of them have achieved Crystal Mark Standard from the Plain English Campaign.

The policy date is the date we took responsibility for paying your pension. It’s shown in the policy schedule, which is part of the policy document we sent you with your member guide.

The pension we will pay you is equal to the amount you would have been entitled to on the date that you left your employer’s scheme, increased up to the date you start taking your pension. You can find information about this in your benefit schedule in your policy document – under ‘revaluation rate’. The revaluation rate is the level of increase that will be applied to your pension income from your ‘Date of Leaving Service’, which is shown in the policy schedule, to decide the correct pension to pay you from your chosen retirement date.

If you take your pension at a date that’s different to your normal retirement date, it will normally be adjusted further. This is explained above under Can I take my benefits before or after my normal retirement date?

You can choose to give up part of your pension in exchange for a tax-free lump sum.

You may also be able to take your pension as a ‘trivial commutation lump sum’. This is a one-off lump sum paid instead of a pension for life, when HMRC think the annual pension you would otherwise receive is ‘trivial’.

If you contact us, or 12 months ahead of your normal retirement date, we’ll confirm all the options available to you. These options will depend on pension law in place at the time.

We’ll start paying your pension from the date you choose (this is often your normal retirement date, which is shown in your policy schedule). We’ll make payments in line with the details in:

• your policy schedule

• your benefit schedule, and

• the terms and conditions section of the policy document.

We’ll write to you about 12 months before your normal retirement date to give you details of the pension we’ll be paying you. You can choose a different date to start taking payments.

You can ask for an up-to-date retirement statement once a year.

Once we’ve started paying your pension, you’ll automatically receive a payslip at least once a year. If your pension income payments change by £5 or more a month after tax, we’ll send you a payslip showing the new payment amount.

We’re responsible for administering and paying your pension. Our administration partner, Mercer, currently does this on our behalf.

The trustees of your former pension scheme have bought an insurance policy from us to pay your pension, so you are no longer a member of that scheme. They’ve made this decision because they believe that it’s in your best interest as we offer more security for your pension than they can provide.

You are now a policyholder of Just. The pension we pay you should be exactly the same as you’d have received from your former scheme, unless the trustees of that scheme have told you otherwise.

Full details of what we’ll pay you and the terms and conditions of your pension are shown in your policy document, which we’ve sent to you with your welcome pack.

If you think any of these details are incorrect, please let us know as soon as possible. You also need to let us know if your details change in the future.

If your pension will increase, it will say so in your policy document. The benefit schedule will show:

• how much your pension will increase by

• the rate of increase, and

• when we’ll apply the increase.

The terms and conditions of your policy will include more information about the types of increases you may receive each year.