RPSM09300040 - Scheme Administrator Pages: Member benefits: Pension benefits

This guidance only covers pension entitlements that arose before 6 April 2011. See RPSM09103500 if the member became entitled to their pension on or after 6 April 2011.

Unsecured pensions

As an alternative to a secured pension (which can take the form of either a scheme pension or a lifetime annuity), you may offer the member a choice of obtaining an unsecured pension. This will be either:

• direct from the scheme through income withdrawal (see RPSM09102030).
• indirectly through the purchase of a short-term annuity contract or a series of such contracts from an insurance company (see RPSM09102230).

An unsecured pension may be provided by a combination of income withdrawal payments and short-term annuity contracts, or by a series of short-term annuity contracts running concurrently.