Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC): what it does and how your pension is protected

Pension Insurance Corporation, known as PIC, is a UK insurer that takes on the pension promises of defined benefit schemes. When a company wants to close or offload its final salary scheme, PIC can take the scheme on and pay members directly. If your pension is now paid by PIC, it is because the scheme you belonged to went through that process, and the insurer stands behind the payments you were promised.

PIC is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 454345, and has been authorised since 3 October 2006¹. It trades under the name PIC and is an active company on the Companies House register under company number 05706720, incorporated on 13 February 2006². Pensions provided by UK-regulated insurers can fall under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as long as they qualify as contracts of long-term insurance³.

The most important thing to know is that your pension is not a savings account you can move, and it is not a workplace scheme run by your old employer any more. It is an insurance policy, and the insurer's job is to pay it. This page explains what PIC does, what the takeover by Athora means for you, how to reach PIC, how to complain, and where protection starts and stops.

What PIC does: insuring pensions from former defined benefit schemes

A defined benefit pension promises a set level of income at retirement, usually based on your salary and years of service. The employer sponsoring the scheme carries the risk of funding that promise. When an employer wants to remove that risk, one route is to pass the scheme, and its promises, to an insurer. PIC is one of the firms that takes on that work.

The distinction matters because it changes who is on the hook. In a defined benefit scheme, the employer stands behind the promise, and if the employer becomes insolvent the Pension Protection Fund assesses the scheme to see whether it can take it on⁵. The PPF pays compensation to members of eligible occupational schemes where the sponsoring employer has become insolvent and the scheme's assets are not enough to meet its commitments⁶. Once an insurer has taken the scheme on, the promise sits with the insurer instead.

Personal pensions work differently. They are defined contribution schemes, also called money purchase schemes, where the money you pay in is invested and the pension you end up with depends on how those investments perform⁷. All personal pensions are defined contribution schemes⁹. PIC's business is the defined benefit side, not the personal pension side, so if you are looking for a personal pension or a SIPP, that is a different market.

If you are trying to work out what kind of pension you have, the pensions guide sets out the main types side by side.

Why your pension is now paid by PIC

You may have had no say in the transfer. When a scheme moves to an insurer, the trustees and the employer agree the deal, and members are told afterwards.

For most members, the answer is nothing. The amount and the date stay as they were, because the insurer has taken on the scheme's promises. The change is who pays, not what is paid. Payments continue on the schedule set out in the policy, and the insurer writes to you if anything about that changes.

Two things are worth checking when a transfer like this happens. First, that the letter is genuine. Pension scams are a live problem, and The Pensions Regulator asks schemes to warn members about them¹⁰. Second, that your contact details are current, because a provider can only write to the address it holds.

If you have lost track of a pension altogether, the government's Pension Tracing Service exists to find the contact details of a personal or workplace pension⁷. That is the right first step before assuming a scheme has disappeared.

The Athora takeover: what changes for PIC pensioners

PIC is now part of the Athora group. For a pensioner, a change of owner is mostly invisible. The policy you hold is with the insurer, and the insurer continues to pay it. Ownership of the company that stands behind your policy is a matter for shareholders, not for the terms of your pension.

What the available facts do not show is any change to payment amounts, payment dates or policy terms as a result of the takeover. Nothing in the record describes a change of trading name either: PIC remains the trading name on the FCA Register, and the company remains active on the Companies House register¹.

If you are ever unsure whether a communication about your pension is genuine, contact the provider using details you have looked up yourself rather than details given to you in the message.

Contacting PIC: phone, letter, email and accessible formats

PIC's own website, at www.pensioncorporation.com, is the place to find its current phone number, postal address and any online contact form¹. Contact details for a firm of this kind change from time to time, so the version on its own site is the one to use.

When you get in touch, have your policy or scheme reference to hand, along with the personal details the provider holds for you. Government services that hold pension records ask people to prove their identity when they sign in, normally with photo identification such as a passport or driving licence¹¹. A pension provider will ask similar questions before it discusses your policy, and that is a protection for you, not an obstacle.

If you need information in an accessible format, or you use British Sign Language, ask the provider directly what it offers. Government Pension Credit applications can be made through a video relay service using British Sign Language or Irish Sign Language¹², but the available facts do not record what PIC itself provides.

Keeping your details up to date with PIC

A pension is only as good as the provider's ability to reach you. If you move house, change your bank account or change your name, tell PIC. The same applies if you are dealing with someone else's pension as an executor or a beneficiary.

The Pensions Regulator, which regulates how workplace pension schemes are run, asks for up to three of your most recent payslips when it needs to trace contributions, which shows the kind of evidence pension bodies expect when records need checking¹³. For a pension already in payment, the equivalent is proof of identity and of your current address.

There is a wider exercise under way to make pensions easier to find. By December 2025, 700 pension providers and schemes had connected to the Pensions Dashboards Programme, covering over 60 million workplace and personal pension records, which is 75 per cent of the records in scope¹⁴. That is about helping people locate pensions, not about moving anyone's data between firms.

If you are sorting out pensions after a death, the Pension Tracing Service can help locate the person's personal or workplace pension⁷.

PIC's customer service record

The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes complaints data by firm and by product, and it is the closest thing to an independent record of how a provider handles problems. In the first quarter of 2026/27, the ombudsman recorded 931 complaints opened about personal pensions, and 50 about payment instruments¹⁶.

Those figures are for the whole market, not for PIC alone, so they say more about how often pension complaints reach the ombudsman than about any one firm. Across 2025/26, 49 per cent of personal pension complaints the ombudsman decided were upheld in the consumer's favour¹⁷. That is a useful benchmark: roughly half of the pension complaints that get that far are found to have merit.

The Pensions Ombudsman, a separate body that deals with pension complaints, publishes member guidance covering how to complain about a pension problem, common complaint topics, who can complain, and what it can and cannot do¹⁸. It covers overpayments, ill-health pensions, death benefits and incorrect pension information¹⁸.

On how people feel about pension firms generally, the FCA's Financial Lives survey recorded a mean trust score of 5.7 out of 10 for pension companies in 2024¹⁹. That is a market-wide figure, not a rating of PIC.

Complaints: how to raise a problem with PIC

Start with PIC. A complaint to the firm gives it the chance to put things right, and it is usually the fastest route. Ask for a copy of its complaints procedure if you cannot find it, keep a record of what you sent and when, and keep any reference number you are given.

If you are not satisfied with the response, or eight weeks pass without one, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers. For a workplace pension, you can also complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how the scheme is managed²⁰. The Pensions Ombudsman's guidance sets out who can complain and what it can and cannot do¹⁸.

There is a separate route if the problem is that contributions are not reaching the scheme. The Pensions Regulator asks members to report it when pension contributions are being persistently paid late²¹. That is a different complaint from a dispute about your own policy, and it goes to the regulator rather than to the ombudsman.

If your complaint is about a decision made about you without human involvement, the Information Commissioner's Office expects you to complain to the organisation first, and then to the ICO if you remain dissatisfied²².

How PIC invests the money behind your pension

An insurer holding pension promises has to invest to meet them decades into the future. The money behind a pension is invested, and the provider's job is to match the assets it holds against the payments it has promised to make.

For personal pensions, the money you pay in is put into investments such as shares by the pension provider⁸. That is the defined contribution model, where the saver carries the investment risk. PIC's model is different: it has promised specific amounts, so the investment risk sits with the insurer, not with the pensioner.

Where UK pension money goes is a live policy question. The Pensions Policy Institute estimated that pension schemes invest 6 per cent of their assets in a narrow definition of UK productive assets, counting only private equity and alternative investments²³. Among private sector defined contribution schemes, pooled investment vehicle holdings increased by £44 billion, or 17 per cent, between 31 March and 30 September 2025.

The Pensions Regulator has also set out expectations on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in workplace pensions, and works with the FCA on regulatory alignment across the sector²⁴.

How your pension is protected: capital rules, regulation and financial strength

Two different protection regimes can apply, and which one covers you depends on the kind of pension you have.

If your pension is provided by a UK-regulated insurer and qualifies as a contract of long-term insurance, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme can protect it³. That is the regime that applies to a pension an insurer has taken on.

If your pension is still an occupational scheme with a sponsoring employer, the Pension Protection Fund may protect it if the scheme fails³. The PPF pays 90 per cent compensation if you are below the scheme's pension age, and 100 per cent of what the scheme promised if you have reached scheme retirement age, retired early for health reasons, or are receiving a pension as a beneficiary of someone who has died²⁵.

On regulation, the FCA regulates contract-based pensions, where there is a contract between an individual and the provider, while The Pensions Regulator regulates trust-based schemes, which have a board of trustees⁴. The Pensions Regulator is the independent UK regulator of work-based pensions, and its statutory objectives include protecting members' benefits and reducing the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund⁴.

If you are checking a firm, the FCA Register entry is the authoritative record of whether it is authorised and what it is allowed to do¹. For a pension provider, that check takes a minute and settles the question.