TPT Retirement Solutions

TPT Retirement Solutions is a workplace pension provider. It runs defined benefit and defined contribution schemes for employers, and it describes itself as one of the UK's leading providers of workplace pensions with 80 years of pensions expertise¹. If your employer uses TPT, your pension sits in a trust-based scheme with a board of trustees overseeing it, and contributions go into a separate account managed by those trustees, which the provider says gives your money more protection if something happens to the employer².

What that means in practice is that TPT administers and invests your pension, but the trustees of your particular scheme hold it for you. Your options, your charges and your retirement age come from your scheme's rules, not from a single TPT product. The default retirement age on TPT's own records is 65, and you can update it if you expect to retire sooner or later¹.

This page covers what TPT offers, how to manage your pension, how to take your benefits, what happens when you leave an employer, and how to complain. It does not give rates or charges for named products: those change, and TPT publishes today's figures on its own site.

TPT's workplace pensions: defined contribution and defined benefit schemes

There are two types of workplace pension scheme, defined benefit and defined contribution, and TPT runs both⁴. The difference matters more than almost anything else on this page, because it decides what you are promised.

In a defined contribution scheme, your pension pot is put into various types of investment, such as shares, and what you end up with depends on what was paid in and how the investments performed⁴. Your employer chooses a pension provider to invest your contributions⁷. All personal pensions are defined contribution schemes⁵, and some employers offer personal pensions as workplace pensions⁸. A personal or stakeholder pension is a pot based on what you or your employer paid in⁹.

In a defined benefit scheme, your pension is worked out from a formula, usually your salary and length of service⁴. The promise is stronger, but it depends on the employer behind the scheme staying solvent, which is where the Pension Protection Fund comes in.

If you are not sure which type you are in, your annual statement and your scheme booklet will say. Your employer's scheme rules, not TPT's general literature, are the document that governs your benefits. For the wider picture on how these schemes compare, see Pensions: a complete guide.

How TPT invests your pension: target date funds or self-select

When you join TPT, your savings are invested in one of its target date funds unless you choose to switch to a different fund¹. Target date funds invest your money differently as you get older, moving the mix gradually as the date you chose approaches¹. That is the default path, and it is designed for members who do not want to make investment decisions themselves.

If you want to take a more hands-on approach to how your money is invested, you can choose from TPT's range of self-select funds¹. This is a genuine choice rather than a one-off setting: you can change where your pension is invested, and the secure online account is where you do it¹.

Two things are worth being clear about. First, a target date fund is not a guarantee. It is an investment strategy, and its value can fall as well as rise. Second, the date you set on your record is what the fund works towards, so if you expect to retire sooner or later than 65 you can update it¹. If you are weighing up whether to manage investments yourself, Investing: a complete guide sets out the general principles.

Charges for extra quotes, statements and divorce work

TPT's own charges for its products are published on its site and change from time to time, so this page does not repeat them. What is worth understanding is the shape of pension charging, because it explains why some requests cost money and others do not.

Routine administration, such as your annual statement, is part of running the scheme. Pension scheme providers usually send you a statement each year to show you how much is in your pension⁴, and personal pension providers send annual statements telling you how much your fund is worth⁸. Those routine statements are not charged for. The free allowances and the fee per quote are set out in that schedule, and the amounts are updated from time to time, so check TPT's own page for the current figures before you make a request.

Work outside the standard service is different. Requests for extra quotations, additional statements, or work connected with divorce or dissolution are typically treated as additional work and charged for. That figure is not TPT's, but it shows the order of magnitude such requests can reach, which is why it is worth asking what a request will cost before you make it.

If you are divorcing or dissolving a civil partnership, the pension is often the second largest asset after the home, and the work involved is specialist. Ask TPT what it charges for the information your solicitor or adviser needs, and get that in writing before the request goes in.

Managing your TPT pension online, with PensionBot and by phone

TPT gives members a secure online account. Once signed in, you can view the current value of your pension pot and make changes to where your pension is invested¹. That covers the two things most members want to do most often: check the balance and adjust the investments.

For questions that are not account specific, TPT provides an automated assistant, PensionBot, on its website, and a member phone line. Contact numbers and opening hours are published on TPT's site and can change, so check there for the current details rather than relying on a number saved from an old letter. When you call, have your member number and National Insurance number ready.

If you would rather talk to someone independent of the scheme, free pension guidance is available from MoneyHelper, which you can reach by webchat, WhatsApp or a phone call¹⁰. That is guidance, not advice: it can explain your options and point you to information, but it will not recommend a course of action for you¹⁰.

Retiring with TPT: how to request a quote and take your benefits

When you are approaching retirement, you can ask your scheme provider for an estimate of how much you will get when you take your pension⁴. That estimate is the starting point for every decision that follows, and it is worth requesting well before the date you have in mind, because the process of taking benefits takes time.

The default retirement age on TPT's records is 65, and you can update it if you think you will want to retire sooner or later¹. Updating the date does not commit you to anything; it makes sure the target date fund you are in is working towards the right point.

Taking benefits from a defined contribution pot is a set of choices rather than a single event, and the research on how people make those decisions is a recognised area of study in its own right¹¹. If you are in a defined benefit scheme, the calculation is done for you from the scheme rules. Either way, TPT can tell you what your options are under your scheme, but it cannot tell you which one to choose.

If you have lost track of a pension from an earlier job, the Pension Tracing Service helps people find contact details for workplace and personal pension schemes⁹. That is worth doing before you make any decisions, because an old pot changes the picture.

Leaving your employer's TPT scheme: refunds, transfers and re-enrolment

If you leave your employer, or simply want out of the pension, you can choose to opt out of a workplace pension¹². Employers must let you leave the scheme if you ask, and refund money you have paid if you opt out within one month¹². Opting out is not the same as transferring: it stops future contributions, and it may mean giving up employer contributions you would otherwise have received.

Transferring is the other route. You can transfer your UK pension pot to another registered UK pension scheme¹³, and in some cases it is also possible to transfer to a new pension provider after you have started to draw retirement benefits¹³. The process usually runs in this order:

1. Check your current scheme allows transfers out.
2. Make sure you will not lose any benefits by moving.
3. Decide which scheme to transfer into.
4. Check whether you need to pay for financial advice.
5. Ask your current provider for a transfer value.
6. Ask the new scheme to start the transfer¹⁴.

If you opt out and later return to the same employer, automatic enrolment rules can bring you back in. You can choose to opt out of a workplace pension¹⁶, and you can opt out again if you are re-enrolled, but the employer must follow the enrolment rules each time.

Death benefits and nominating who receives them

Death benefits are the part of a pension people most often leave undone, and it is the part where a missing form causes the most distress. TPT's position is that, in the event of a member's death, benefits are paid at the discretion of the Trustee². Because the Trustee has discretion, the people who receive the money are decided by the Trustee, taking your nomination into account, rather than by your will.

That is why nominating matters, and how you do it depends on your scheme:

• Defined benefit members: use the DB Online facility to nominate or amend beneficiaries online².
• Defined contribution members: update your record in your online DC account².
• No access to either facility: complete a nomination form or notify TPT in writing of any changes².

The wider principle is the same across pensions: death-in-service benefits and pension lump sums may not form part of the estate, and are often paid to one or more nominated people¹⁷. The Pensions Ombudsman publishes guidance on what death benefits are, the common issues that arise, and how it can help if a dispute cannot be resolved¹⁸. If you are dealing with a death, the government's Tell Us Once service lets you report it to several organisations at once¹⁹.

TPT does not give financial advice: where to get guidance

TPT can tell you what your scheme provides, what your options are and what the figures are. It cannot tell you which option to take. That is the line between guidance and advice, and it runs through the whole pensions industry: guidance is a broader term including general information and signposting about pensions which does not include a recommendation¹⁰.

Free pension guidance is provided by MoneyHelper¹⁰, which you can reach by webchat, WhatsApp or a phone call¹⁰. For a defined benefit transfer, the position is stricter: you may need to pay for financial advice before a transfer can go ahead¹⁴, and the scheme itself cannot advise you. Public sector schemes make the same point in their own words:

If you are on a low income, it is worth checking whether you qualify for Pension Credit, which you claim by contacting the Pension Service²⁰. Help with low income is also available in Scotland through the devolved system²⁰.

Complaints: TPT first, then your scheme's trustees

The route for a pension complaint has an order to it, and starting in the wrong place costs time. Where someone is unhappy with how an organisation has handled a request, the first step is to complain to that organisation²¹. For a workplace pension, that means raising the concern with the employer or the scheme directly before going anywhere else²². If TPT's response leaves you dissatisfied, the next step is your scheme's trustees under the scheme's dispute resolution procedure²³.

If your concern is about your pension scheme, it usually has an internal dispute resolution procedure through which you can raise it²². That procedure is the formal first stage, and the ombudsman expects it to be used: in one published decision, The Pensions Ombudsman said it expects members to make a complaint to the Trustees under the plan's IDRP before complaining to it²³.

If contributions are missing, or an employer is not complying with its pensions duties, The Pensions Regulator asks members to speak to the employer first, and to report the matter to the regulator if they feel unable to do that or still have concerns afterwards²⁴. The same sequence applies to concerns that an employer is not complying with its workplace pension duties²⁵. Where an employer or workplace pension scheme is thought to be involved in wrongdoing in an area the regulator covers, that can be reported to it in confidence²².

If your details are wrong on your record, you have the right to have them corrected, and the first step is a complaint to the organisation holding them²¹.

How your pension is protected under a trust

Your TPT pension is held in trust. Trust-based pension schemes have a board of trustees overseeing the scheme⁷, and the regulator's objectives include protecting members' benefits²⁶. That structure is the first layer of protection: contributions go into a separate account managed by the trustees, which TPT says gives your money more protection if something happens to the employer⁷.

The second layer applies to defined benefit schemes. The Pension Protection Fund is a statutory fund to protect members of defined benefit schemes if the scheme's sponsor becomes insolvent²⁷, and it protects millions of people in the UK who are members of defined benefit pension schemes²⁸. It was set up in 2005 to protect members if their employer, and its pension scheme, can no longer afford to pay the promised benefits³. If a scheme is in the PPF's assessment period, members should contact the trustees in charge of the scheme, who can tell them about the level of benefits they might receive²⁹.

There is a further protection for some public sector members: any indexation built up from April 1978 to April 1988 is protected and will be paid by the pension scheme⁶. Pension trustees are also treated differently from other trusts for the purposes of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, depending on the type of pension³¹.

Finally, the scams warning applies to everyone with a pension. The Pensions Regulator asks trustees to warn members about pension scams³², and the Financial Ombudsman Service has warned consumers to keep their pension safe from scammers³³. The Pension Schemes Act 2021 gives trustees a role in checking that transfers of pension savings are made to safe and not fraudulent schemes¹⁵. Where someone offers to help release a pension early, or to move it into an unusual investment, that is the point at which a transfer can be blocked or delayed.