UK Pension Transfers (SIPP / QROPS)
An options review for non-UK residents: leave it in the UK, move to a SIPP, or transfer to a QROPS — with the trade-offs written down.
A UK pension transfer is an options review before it is a transaction. For a non-UK resident there are three credible routes — leave the scheme in the UK, move it to an international SIPP, or transfer to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS). Each has a different tax, charge, currency and flexibility outcome, and for many clients the right answer is to leave it where it is.
The terminology matters. HMRC's official term is ROPS — a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme that appears on HMRC's published ROPS list. A QROPS is a ROPS that also meets the qualifying conditions to receive a transfer from a UK registered pension, which is why the industry still uses the older acronym. A QNUPS, by contrast, is a Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme: it cannot receive a UK registered-pension transfer at all, and is funded with post-tax money for UK inheritance tax planning. We check which of these is actually being proposed to you before anything else.
PWS Offshore produces the comparison. Transfer values, safeguarded benefits, the overseas transfer charge, scheme charges, drawdown flexibility, death-benefit treatment and how your country of residence taxes each route are set out side by side in writing, with the recommendation stated plainly.
Defined-benefit transfers and any regulated advice are handled by an appropriately authorised adviser; we coordinate that engagement, review the output and remain your point of contact. Any product or transfer remuneration is disclosed before implementation.
Scope of engagement
- Leave / SIPP / QROPS comparison
- Overseas transfer charge analysis
- Regulated adviser coordination
Typical clients
- Non-UK residents holding UK defined-contribution or defined-benefit pensions
- Clients who have been approached with a QROPS recommendation and want an independent second view
- Expatriates consolidating several small UK pots
- Families planning death-benefit treatment of a UK pension across borders
A coordinated specialist team, from first call to handover.
Scheme details, transfer values, guarantees and safeguarded benefits requested and verified in writing.
Leave, SIPP and QROPS compared on tax, charges, currency, flexibility and death benefits for your residency, with the receiving scheme checked against HMRC's ROPS list.
Overseas transfer charge exposure, exit penalties and ongoing costs quantified over the expected holding period.
Where a transfer is right, it is implemented through an authorised adviser and tracked to completion. Where the objective turns out to be estate planning with post-tax money rather than a transfer, we route it to the QNUPS and inheritance tax work instead.
What you receive.
Every engagement closes with a specialist-reviewed handover pack — retained on file for thirty years.
- Verified schedule of UK pension entitlements and transfer values
- Written leave / SIPP / QROPS comparison
- Confirmation of the receiving scheme's status on HMRC's ROPS list
- Overseas transfer charge and cost analysis
- Death-benefit and beneficiary treatment summary
- Coordination with the regulated adviser through to completion
Jurisdictions in active use for this service.
Questions we hear on every intake call.
- What is the difference between a SIPP and a QROPS?
- An international SIPP remains a UK-registered scheme with UK rules and UK protections. A QROPS is an overseas scheme meeting HMRC conditions; it can offer different currency and reporting features but may trigger the overseas transfer charge and sits outside UK regulation.
- What is the difference between ROPS and QROPS?
- ROPS is HMRC's official term — a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme, published on HMRC's ROPS list. QROPS is the older industry term for a ROPS that also qualifies to receive a transfer from a UK registered pension. In practice people use them interchangeably, but appearing on the ROPS list is not by itself a guarantee that a transfer will be tax-free or suitable; we verify status and charge exposure separately.
- What is a QNUPS and can I transfer my UK pension into one?
- No. A QNUPS — Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme — cannot receive a transfer from a UK registered pension. It is funded with post-tax money and is used mainly for UK inheritance tax planning by people who have already used their pension allowances. If a QNUPS is being proposed to you as a transfer destination, that is a warning sign.
- What is the overseas transfer charge?
- A 25% HMRC charge that applies to transfers to overseas schemes unless an exclusion applies — most commonly where you are resident in the same country as the receiving scheme. Whether it applies to you is confirmed before anything is signed.
- Should I transfer a defined-benefit pension?
- Usually not. Giving up a guaranteed, inflation-linked income is rarely in a member's interest, and any such transfer requires formal advice from an FCA-authorised specialist. We say so plainly when the answer is to stay put.
- How is a transfer engagement funded?
- The review is part of the product-based wealth-management engagement rather than a fixed or hourly advisory fee. Product, transfer and intermediary costs are disclosed before implementation.
Start with a twenty-minute call. Leave with a written scope.
Every engagement begins with our advisory team and is assigned to the relevant specialists. Fixed fees are quoted in writing before any work begins.
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