Your pension with Clara is secure. But there are pension scammers who might be after your pension. Be careful, understand the warning signs and get help if you need it. You can check with us if you’re worried or suspicious.
One of the most valuable things you’ll ever own is your retirement savings. Decades of hard work means contributions from you and your employer can build and compound over time into very large sums of money. Your pension which has been transferred to Clara may be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Your pension being transferred to Clara means it is more secure. Our capital buffer improves its security and we hold your personal information on secure systems. All this was assessed by The Pensions Regulator before you became a Clara member.
You don’t need to do anything with your Clara pension. You should think carefully, and may want to take guidance and advice, if anyone suggests you do take action.
If you’re already retired, we’ll pay you your pension each month and, when you sadly pass away, your spouse may continue to receive payments from us. Please make sure you keep your personal details with us up to date, including details of any spouse.
If you’re not yet retired, you may have choices about your pension. We’ll contact you when you get close to the normal age at which people retire from your section of the Clara pension scheme to start paying your pension. That’s the only time we’ll contact you asking for your bank details. You may be able to retire earlier than that – you’ll need to contact us to ask about how you might do so.
If you’re not retired, you may also have the opportunity to transfer your pension with Clara to another pension scheme. Money Helper, a free and impartial service provided by the Money & Pensions Service, has a helpful explanation of how these transfers work and some of the things to think about: Transferring your defined benefit pension | MoneyHelper
If you have the right to transfer your pension from Clara, you can be at risk from scammers, given how valuable your pension is.
Common signs of a pension scam are an unsolicited approach, being pressed to make a quick decision, being offered incentives to transfer, high rates of return and/or the contact details for the company being unclear. People have lost substantial sums of money to scammers.
You can find more advice, information on the warning signs and how to get help about scams on the Money Helper website: How to spot a pension scam | MoneyHelper
A final reminder that while we may ask you to check your personal details with us and will work with you to start paying your pension, we will never unexpectedly contact you asking for your bank details or for your Clara portal password. We also don’t charge a fee for any of our services to members.
If you are concerned about a potential scam related to your pension with Clara, or receive unusual communications about your pension that you think might be a scam, please contact us to let us know. You can use the contact details on our member website.