News

The message is to stay calm and not rush to make financial decisions during this time of financial uncertainty. The industry has fears that the impact of the pandemic on global markets and people’s personal finances may make members more vulnerable to scams or making a decision that could damage their long-term interests.

The Pensions Regulator has also instructed pension schemes to issue the following letter to any member requesting a transfer quotation www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/-/media/thepensionsregulator/files/import/pdf/cetv-members-letter. If you request a transfer quote from Mercer, you will be issued a copy of this letter.

Here are the main points for Scheme members to be aware of:

• Since the coronavirus outbreak began, stock markets have fallen and are likely to go up and down for some time, while your Scheme pension remains a safe, long-term investment for your retirement
• The Regulator has stressed that transferring out of a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme (such as the Cadent Gas Pension Scheme) into a different type of pension arrangement is unlikely to be in a member’s best long-term interests
• Transferring out of the Scheme is a serious and irrevocable decision
• Before making any decisions about your Cadent Gas pension, you should always seek independent financial advice.

Following the decision by the Company to stop the ongoing build-up of benefits in the Cadent Gas Pension Scheme (CGPS) from 31 March 2024, there are several actions over April and May that need to be carried by the Scheme administrator, Mercer, to calculate your deferred pension and update your member record. 

One of these actions is the change to the data that is held on OneView (Mercer’s member portal) and My Retirement Planner (MRP). 

During the period that Mercer will be carrying out the changes, you will still be able to access OneView and MRP. 

The information on OneView will initially still show you as being an active member until such time as Mercer has processed your records and updated it to show you as a deferred member. 

The information available on MRP will be the illustrative pension and transfer value that was calculated in March whilst you were still an active member of the Scheme; however this will help to give you some indicative information. Please note that you will not be able to use the modeller tool to carry out projections on MRP during this period, as this will calculate pension projections based on you being an active member of the Scheme, which is no longer relevant. 

You can still contact Mercer if you need to request a quotation or transfer value, but this information will take longer than usual to be issued to you, as Mercer will be in the process of amending your records as well as the records for other members of the Scheme who opted out of the Scheme. 

Mercer has advised that all updates will be completed by the end of May, and you will be issued with your Leaver Statement around this time. OneView and MRP will be fully available again in mid June 2024. 

If you have any questions, please contact Mercer in the usual way.