Changing circumstances

If you leave the Company and start work with another of the original Electricity Companies, who offer their employees membership of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS), then you may be able to join their Group if your new employer allows. 

You may be able to transfer your benefits built up in the Uniper Scheme to the new company, to provide equivalent benefits. For more information, please contact the pension scheme administrator for your new employer. Your new employer should be able to advise who this is.

If you are a Protected Person, please take a look at the additional information in your Member Guide. 

If you need to stop work completely due to ill-health, you can apply for ill-health benefits, as long as you have not already taken your benefits. 

Keep in mind, that you will not be given an incapacity pension automatically – you will need to write to your pension administrator, Broadstone, with a request for early payment of your pension benefits on the grounds of ill-health. You can find Broadstone’s contact information on the contact details page. 

You will then need to meet certain criteria under the Scheme rules to be considered for ill-health benefits. For example, a Medical Adviser will need to confirm you are unable to work.

If you meet the criteria, you may be able to claim your Scheme pension and cash lump sum early, with no reductions.

If it is agreed, an ill-health pension can be paid at any age. The Trustee will monitor the payment with regular reports on your current health, and any paid employment that you may start after we pay your ill-health pension to you. The Trustee may then reduce or suspend the pension depending on the reports they receive.

If you left the company due to ill-health but were not granted ill-health benefits at the time, you may be able to start taking your deferred benefits at any time, even if you have not reached your normal pension age.

You can find out more about taking your pension early due to ill-health in your Member Guide.

If you are going through a divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership, you will need to tell your pension administrator, Broadstone. This will help to avoid delays in payment of any benefits due to you and/or your dependants. 

As part of your divorce or dissolution, your pension is likely to be considered along with your other assets when financial settlements are worked out.

How your pension could be shared out

There are three ways a Court could decide to share your pension:

1. Pension Offsetting

   
   With Pension Offsetting, you keep your pension assets to yourself in their entirety while something else of the same or similar value, such as property, is awarded to your ex-spouse or former civil partner. If your situation changes in the future and you re-marry or die, your offsetting agreement will not be affected.
   
   Pension Offsetting might be a particularly good option if you and your ex-spouse or former civil partner have similar pension provisions in place, or overseas pensions that need to be split. This is because international pension assets cannot be shared via a UK court order.
   



2. Pension Attachment Order (Earmarking Order)

   
   The Scheme must accept an Earmarking order if it is made against one of its members.
   
   With this option, when you start getting your pension, a certain amount that is agreed by both parties and approved by the Court, will go to your ex-spouse or former civil partner. The amount could also include a portion of your lump sum death benefit and/or your retirement lump sum. The payments will be made directly to your ex-spouse or former civil partner when you decide to take your benefits. The State Pension is not included in it though.
   
   If you die before you start receiving your pension, your ex-spouse or former civil partner will not get the share awarded to them. They may however, still receive some of the lump sum which could be paid out when you die.
   
   If your ex-spouse or former civil partner remarries, enters a new civil partnership or dies before you, they will no longer be eligible to receive any of your pension payments awarded to them, and they will be re-instated to you. However, they may still be entitled to a retirement lump sum.
   



3. Pension Sharing Order (PSO)

   
   Pension Sharing provides a clean break between both parties at the time of divorce or ending of a civil partnership. This is because assets are split immediately and it is up to both parties to decide what to do with their shares independently.
   
   With this option, a one-off payment that is agreed by both parties and approved by the Court, is made from your pension to your ex-spouse or former civil partner at the time of divorce or ending of a civil partnership. Their share is taken off the total amount of your pension - this is known as a 'pension debit'. Your ex-spouse or former civil partner receives their share, known as the 'pension credit' as soon as the order is finalised.
   
   Once the payment has been made, your ex-spouse or former civil partner will have no further claim to your pension.
   
   The amount they receive from you should be transferred to another pension provider.
   
   In this arrangement, if your ex-spouse or former civil partner dies before you do, the pension debit will not be re-instated to you.

How will any Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) be split? 

If you die before taking your deferred benefits or soon after, your next of kin may be entitled to death benefits. You can find out more on the your benefits page and in your Member Guide.