What should I do with my ITV pension after leaving?

Enjoyed working at ITV and now a bit unsure what to do with your pension? You’re in the right place – let’s run through your options so you can make the right decision for you.

Your main options are:

1. Keep it where it is
2. Transfer to a personal pension (recommended)
3. Transfer to your new work pension

Note: we’re talking about ‘defined contribution pensions’ or ‘DC’ as ITV call it. That’s where your money goes into a pension pot, which grows over time, and you decide when to take money out (as long as you’re over 55 (57 from 2028)). The alternative is a defined benefit pension, which is where you will get a set income when you retire (for instance a final salary pension, or average salary) based on things like how long you’ve worked there and your salary (this is the older style ITV pension).

1. Keep your ITV pension where it is

If you’ve been happy with pension growth (performance), service, and everything else, you could simply keep your ITV pension where it is. The investment experts ITV work with, will hopefully keep growing your pension over time, in whichever pension plan you chose.

You won’t be able to keep adding to your pension however, and ITV will of course stop paying into it too.

When it comes to retirement, you will need to transfer it to another pension provider (company) in order to start taking money out of it, so it could be a good idea to do it now anyway (we’ll cover your retirement options below too).

Nuts About Money tip: make sure you keep a record of all your pension information for when you retire and need the money – you’ll be surprised how many people forget about their pensions.

2. Transfer your ITV pension to a personal pension (recommended)

This is likely going to be your best option.

The pension you’ve got with ITV is technically called a workplace pension (they’ve set it up for you as part of your job). Workplace pensions have some great benefits such as getting extra cash from your employer (ITV) if you pay into it yourself (for instance if you pay in 5%, ITV has to pay in 3%).

On the other hand, a personal pension is one that you set up yourself (usually online), you decide which pension provider to use, and how much to pay in and when.

They’re a great way to boost your overall pension pot, to provide a comfortable income in retirement – or if you’re now self-employed, they’re your only option (but a great one).

Your money will still grow tax-free (like a workplace pension), and you’ll get a massive 25% bonus from the Government on all your contributions…

This is to refund the tax you’d paid on your income (as you pay into after you received your salary).

If you’re a higher rate taxpayer (40% tax), or additional rate taxpayer (45%), you’ll also be able to claim back some of the tax paid at those rates too (on a Self Assessment tax return). Need help with your tax return? TaxScouts¹ can help you, their service is rated 5 stars. 

Another great thing about personal pensions is that you get to decide which pension provider to use, so you can pick one that’s easy to use, has low fees, and a great track record of growing pensions over time.

And, if you decide you want to move your pension to another provider in future, you can, all for free (normally).

By transferring your ITV pension to a personal pension (and any other old pensions you might have), you’ll be using a pension provider of your choice, and have all the same benefits (such as growing tax-free).

For instance, if you don’t think the ITV pension is performing well (e.g. not growing much), or you’re not happy with the website or customer service, you don’t need to stick with them – you can pick a shiny new personal pension that’s perfect for you – perhaps one that’s got a great mobile app so you can manage your pension whenever you like.

Think of your pension like a mobile phone contract, or broadband – it’s a good idea to shop around for the best deal, rather than sticking on a bad deal for most of your life! The difference can be huge.

There’s also no chance you’ll forget where your pension is either, as you can move all your old pensions over to your new personal pension provider (and potentially benefit from even lower fees if they add up to a lot – the more cash in a pension, typically the lower fees there are).

If you're not sure who to use, we recommend PensionBee¹ for personal pensions – it’s easy to use, low cost, has a great record of growing money, and you’ll get a dedicated account manager to help you with anything you might need (for free too).

They’ll handle the whole pension transfer process for you too – you don’t need it to do a thing, you’ll simply see your money turn up in your account after a few weeks (usually).

Plus, if you sign up through Nuts About Money, you’ll get £50 added to your pension for free.

Or, check out Moneyfarm¹ – they’ve got experts on hand to guide you, a great track record, and you can even save and invest outside of a pension too (such as within a tax-free ISA).

For all the top options, check out the best personal pensions.

Nuts About Money tip: transferring your pension is often called consolidating your pension.

3. Transfer your ITV pension to your new work pension

If you’re moving to a new job, your new employer will almost certainly set up a workplace pension for you (by law most companies have to).

They’re pretty great as your new employer has to add at least 3% if you add 5%, so it’s like a free pay rise! However, as employers have to register for one (by law), they often just pick any old one to get the box ticked, rather than the best pension for you.

And, you aren’t able to move your pension away from your workplace pension until you move to a new job.

So, you could move your old pension across to your new workplace pension if you want to keep everything in one single place – however, it is likely won’t be an awesome, modern pension provider with loads of jazzy features (such as a great app). It could be expensive, and it may not be growing much.

So, it’s often better to transfer your old pensions to a modern personal pension, where you have full control, and can pick an easy to use, low cost pension provider, with a great track record (and move it again in future if you aren’t happy).

Again, our top recommendation for this is PensionBee¹, for all of those reasons (and more).

What about if I’m now self-employed?

If you’re now becoming your own boss (whoop!), then your best option is still our recommended option – move your pension to a personal pension of your choice. Of course, you won’t have the option to transfer it to a new workplace pension anyway.

Once you’re up and running with a personal pension, you can pay into it each month (or however often you like), and benefit from all the same tax-saving benefits that you get with a workplace pension, such as your money growing tax-free, and all your pension contributions being tax-free too – you’ll get a 25% bonus automatically added from the Government on all the money you add, rather than it going into your pension before tax (like a workplace pension).

And, if you’ve set up a limited company, you can pay in directly from your business bank account (with some providers), meaning you can save even more tax (by reducing your Corporation Tax bill).

For self-employed people, surprise, surprise, we recommend PensionBee¹, it’s easy to use, and perfect for self-employed and limited company directors. 

To learn more, here’s our guide to the best private pensions for the self-employed.

What about if I’m retiring?

If you’re retiring, first of all, congratulations! You’ve earned it – all those years of hard work and squirrelling away into your pension pot.

You’ve now got two options – you can start to withdraw money from your pension directly (called pension drawdown), and let it keep growing over time (this is becoming a very popular option since the Government allowed it in 2015).

Or, you can buy an annuity, which is a guaranteed income for the rest of your life, or a set number of years (e.g. 20 years). You can even do a bit of both.

And, as a bonus, the first 25% of your pension will be completely tax-free. You might pay tax on the rest depending on what your yearly income will be when you take money out.

With your ITV pension, you’ll need to transfer it to another pension provider for either option, and ITV works with Legal & General to help you here (they’ll be your new provider).

However, you don’t have to use them, you can use any pension provider you like, or any annuity provider you like for that matter. It’s often a good idea to speak to a financial advisor if you’re thinking of going the annuity route (as there’s no going back).

With the drawdown option, you’ve got a few options – you can pick a modern provider, who can keep growing your pension over time (with a pension plan designed for retired people), while you withdraw from it as and when you like.

Again, you’ve guessed it, PensionBee¹ comes out on top, they really are great. You get a dedicated account manager to help you too (if you’d like it).

To learn more about drawdown, here’s our guide to the best pension drawdown providers.

Let’s recap

Right, hopefully that was a bit more straightforward than you thought?

To recap, once you’ve left your ITV job (or any job), you’ve got 3 options:

1. You can keep your ITV pension where it is. It should continue to grow over time, but you won’t be able to add any more cash to it (normally), and there’s a chance you might forget about it when the time comes to retire (yes this happens!).

2. Transfer your ITV pension to a new personal pension – this is often the preferred option for most people, and it’s where you get to pick a great new pension provider, one that’s easy to use, has low fees and a great record of growing pensions.

You then have the option to move your pension again to another provider when you like! Our top recommendation for this is PensionBee¹ (and you’ll get £50 added to your pension for free if you sign up through Nuts About Money).

3. Transfer your ITV to your new work pension – if you’re moving to a new job (congratulations), you have the option to transfer your ITV pension to your new workplace pension that should be set up for you.

Often, it’s not a good idea to do this, as workplace pensions aren’t usually that good (they can be complicated to use, grow slowly and have high fees (but not all of them)), but more importantly, once you move it, it’s stuck there – all of your options are gone.

And that’s it. If you hadn’t guessed yet, we think it’s the best option for most people to move their pension to a personal pension, where you can pick from one of the best pension providers out there, such as a great modern provider that’s easy to use, has low fees and a great record of growing pensions over time…

Overall, our top option is PensionBee¹, but there’s also Moneyfarm¹ who can provide expert help (for free). For all the top options, check out the best personal pensions. 

If you’re still a bit unsure, here’s our guide to what happens to your pension when you change jobs.