Retirement process
Once the member has told you they want to retire and has confirmed a retirement date, here’s what you need to do:
1. Complete the leaver process via the UPM Employer portal as soon as possible, and at least 30 days before the retirement date.
Please note: we no longer accept ‘Intention to retire’ forms.
2. After you have completed the leaver process, we set up a case on behalf of the member. If they are aged 55 or over (or taking flexible retirement/redundancy), the case is passed to our Retirements Team for processing.
3. We then process the figures for the member’s pension. If we have any queries relating to the details you have provided, we will contact you. It’s important that you respond to any queries in good time so that we can resolve them as quickly as possible.
Please note: we can’t process the member’s retirement figures until you have responded to all the queries.
4. Once we have the required information, we send a retirement pack to the member, which includes the forms they need to complete and return to us – along with details of any additional documents we require.
5. Once we have received the completed forms and requested documents, we process the payment of the member’s retirement benefits and send them a confirmation letter.
Please note: if the member has had a change of pay after you have submitted the leaver form, you’ll just need to complete another leaver form, with the new pay details added in. For more information, see the Retirement FAQs section below.
If you are unable to submit another leaver form, we will take the information that you provide on your monthly data return.
Retirement guides and documentation
A scheme member can elect to take payment of their pension benefits from age 55 on termination of their employment. The Scheme member does not require employer consent and should have been provided with an estimate of any reduction to their pension before making such an election. You will find more information on retirement in the following guides.
Retirement FAQs
No. Only active members of the scheme are able to take flexible retirement (eg, reduce their working hours or move to a lower grade role), so they shouldn’t opt out.
If they do opt out, this will be treated like the normal opt-out process, meaning they won’t be able to access their benefits while still in that employment. They will also need to be re-enrolled back into the scheme. They can choose to opt-out once they have taken flexible retirement (if they don’t want to continue building up their pension benefits).
To avoid delays in processing retirements, it’s important that you submit leaver forms on the UPM employer portal as soon as you’ve been notified by the member – ideally, at least 30 days before the retirement date. To speed things up, you can use an estimate of the final pay figures when completing the form. This will allow us to send out retirement forms earlier and help us pay members on time.
To find out more about submitting leaver forms, view our video, Understanding the leaver process
You’ll just need to complete another leaver form, with the employee’s new pay figures added in to replace the previous ones (everything else on the form should stay the same). Then, upload the form to the UPM employer portal, as normal.
If you are unable to submit another leave form, we will take the information that you provide on your monthly data return.
To find out more about submitting leaver forms, view our video, Understanding the leaver process