How to Request a Statement of Entitlement (SOE) for a Pension Transfer

To request a Statement of Entitlement for a pension transfer, write to your defined benefit scheme’s trustees or administrator asking for a statement under Section 93A of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, and include your member number, National Insurance number, and full legal name. The scheme is then legally obliged to issue the statement, which shows your Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) at a fixed guarantee date and locks that figure in for three months while you decide whether to proceed.¹

What to Have Ready Before You Apply

The application itself is short, but the scheme will not release a valuation until it can match you to its records. Before writing, pull together:

Your member or policy number, which appears on annual benefit statements and prior correspondence from the scheme.
Your National Insurance number, which trustees use alongside the member number to verify identity and check contribution records.
Your full legal name and current address, exactly as held on file. If you have moved and not told the scheme, correct the address first; a mismatch is one of the most common reasons a request is bounced back.
The receiving scheme’s details, if you already know where you want the money to go. You do not need a receiving scheme in place to request the SOE, but supplying its name, administrator, and reference number early can shorten the later paperwork.

Section 93A frames the entitlement in mandatory terms: trustees “must, on the application of any member, provide the member with a statement of entitlement in respect of the member’s transferrable rights.”¹ This is a statutory right, not a courtesy.

How to Send the Request

Most schemes accept requests in one of three ways: a letter to the trustees, a form downloaded from a “Transfer Out” section of the scheme’s website, or a submission through an online member portal. Larger schemes usually publish a dedicated form. Smaller ones may only take letters.

If you post the request, use recorded delivery. The statutory clock runs from the date the trustees receive your application, and you may need proof of that date if the response is late.

State clearly in your letter or form that you are requesting a statement of entitlement under Section 93A of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 for the purpose of considering a transfer. Give your member number, National Insurance number, and full name. If the scheme provides benefits in more than one category, for example a main defined benefit pension plus an AVC element with defined benefit guarantees, say whether you want a CETV for one category or both.¹

What the Scheme Must Send You and When

The statement of entitlement is a written document showing the cash equivalent of your transferrable rights at a specific date, called the guarantee date.² The CETV is the headline figure: a lump sum the scheme’s actuary calculates would be needed today to replicate the pension income you have built up so far.

Two deadlines govern the response. The guarantee date must fall within three months of the date you submit your application, extending to six months only where the delay is genuinely beyond the trustees’ control. The statement itself must reach you within ten working days of the guarantee date.³ In a normal case, the SOE should arrive no more than about three months and two weeks after you apply.

The guarantee date matters because every later deadline in the process runs from it, and because the CETV shown is fixed as of that date. Market movements or changes in the scheme’s funding position during the guarantee window do not reduce the amount you were quoted.

Your Three-Month Decision Window

Once the SOE arrives, you have three months from the guarantee date to confirm that you want to proceed. Because the guarantee date is set before the statement reaches you, actual thinking time is often closer to two and a half months. Miss the window and the quote expires; you would need to submit a fresh application to start again.

Completing the Transfer After You Receive the SOE

Getting the statement is only the midpoint. Two things still have to happen inside the decision window.

Financial Advice if the CETV Exceeds £30,000

If your CETV is more than £30,000, you must obtain advice from a financial adviser regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority before the transfer can go ahead.⁴ The trustees will not release the funds without written confirmation from the adviser that the advice was given. The requirement applies to all transfers of safeguarded benefits, essentially defined benefit pensions and any guaranteed annuity rates, above that threshold.⁵ If the CETV is £30,000 or below, the advice rule does not apply, though taking advice voluntarily is still worth considering; the decision is irreversible.

Transfer Election and Discharge Forms

The scheme will send transfer election forms, sometimes called discharge forms, for you to sign and return. These confirm the receiving scheme, that you understand you are giving up your defined benefit entitlement, and, where the threshold applies, that you have taken the required advice. A wet or digital signature is needed; a printed name is not enough. Some schemes also require the receiving provider to complete a section confirming it will accept the transfer.

Return everything well before the three-month deadline, by a method that gives proof of delivery, and keep copies. If the forms arrive after the guarantee window closes, the quote is void and the process begins again with a new application. Once you have returned the paperwork, Section 99 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 gives trustees six months from the guarantee date to complete the actual movement of funds.⁶

How Often You Can Ask

Section 93A(5) allows regulations to restrict repeat applications, and in practice you are entitled to one statement of entitlement within any twelve-month period.¹ If you let a CETV lapse and reapply within the same year, the scheme may treat the second request differently, though many will process a fresh valuation without argument if your circumstances have changed. The Act does not set a fee for repeat requests; whether a scheme charges for additional valuations is a matter for its own rules.

Why Requests Get Delayed or Rejected

The most common reason a request stalls is mismatched personal details. If the name, address, or National Insurance number on the application does not match the scheme’s records, the administrator will return the application rather than risk sending sensitive financial information to the wrong person. Update your records with the scheme before you apply.

Some schemes invoke the “reasons beyond their control” extension, stretching the guarantee date deadline from three months to six.³ The extension is intended for genuine operational difficulty rather than routine backlog. If your scheme cites it, ask for a written explanation. The Pensions Regulator expects trustees to process transfer requests promptly.

Delays on the back end are also common. If the receiving scheme does not return its portion of the discharge documentation, or if the advice confirmation form arrives late, the trustees cannot proceed. Chase both sides if the process stalls; the Section 99 six-month deadline runs from the guarantee date regardless of who caused the hold-up.⁶

Watch for Transfer Scams

Pension transfer scams almost always begin with unsolicited contact: a phone call, text, or email offering a free pension review or promising unusually high returns. Cold calling about pensions has been illegal in the UK since 2020, so an unsolicited approach is itself a warning sign. Legitimate advisers do not cold call, and no genuine scheme will pressure you to transfer quickly.

Before engaging any adviser, check the FCA Register to confirm they are authorised. Treat any suggestion of transferring into an unregulated investment, overseas property scheme, or product promising guaranteed returns above normal market rates as a scam until proven otherwise. Once a transfer completes, the money leaves the protection of your defined benefit scheme permanently and is extremely difficult to recover.

1
Legislation.gov.uk. Pension Schemes Act 1993, Section 93A
2
Legislation.gov.uk. Pension Schemes Act 1993, Section 93A
3
Legislation.gov.uk. Occupational Pension Schemes (Transfer Values) Regulations 1996
4
Financial Conduct Authority. Pension Transfer Advice: What to Expect
5
The Pensions Regulator. DB to DC Transfers and Conversions
6
Legislation.gov.uk. Pension Schemes Act 1993, Section 99