Clara has a positive plan for your pension. We’ll keep you updated throughout the journey.

If you’re a member who has just joined Clara, it might seem too early to talk about what happens next on your Clara journey. However, improving member experience and offering safer pensions is at the heart of Clara and so we have a plan for your journey. So, what comes next?

First, where are you now? If your pension has been transferred to Clara you now benefit from stronger security for your promised pension, with the Clara trustees overseeing the scheme. For now, you’re likely to still have the same day to day point of contact for queries.

There are two big milestones to come on your Clara journey. We explain what they are:

Moving to a new administrator

Every pension scheme has an administrator, usually a specialist company. They’re the people who look after your personal details and what your promised pension is. If you’re currently receiving your pension, they’ll be making the payment each month on the pension scheme’s behalf. They’re the day to day point of contact for queries or questions.

As part of making the transition to Clara as smooth as possible, when members are transferred to Clara the administrator usually stays the same.

The Clara pension scheme does though have preferred administrators. We’ve worked with them so they understand what Clara is about and share our ‘Member first’ vision. They’ve also committed to our long term plan for how our member experience will develop.

Around a year to eighteen months after becoming a Clara member we’ll have our preferred administrators take over, if they are not already your administrator. If your administrator changes, they’ll become responsible for your details and become the day to day point of contact for queries.

We’ll explain more to you if and when the time comes for this to happen.

Moving to an insurance company

Clara offers safer pensions, but we’re not the end point of that journey. Clara’s model is set up so that after an average period of seven to ten years, we’ll look to pass groups of our members to an insurance company, in what is called a ‘buy out’. That offers members even greater security.

The transfer to an insurer from Clara is much like the original transfer of members and assets to Clara. We’ll let you know in advance of the transfer happening. The insurer taking responsibility for your pension will then write to you once the transfer takes place.

We’ll keep in contact with you throughout your Clara journey. Please do let us know through the member portal if your personal details or personal circumstances change.