FAQs
To find out what pension scheme you are in, try our decision tree here.
Most of our First Bus employees are enrolled into the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FRBSP) held with Aegon. If you joined before 6 April 2015, you are likely to be a member of Plan 1 in the FBRSP. If you joined after 5 April 2015, you are likely to be a member of Plan 2 in the FBRSP
For our longer serving employees who were building up pension benefits prior to 5 April 2018, it is possible you might another pension with Mercer.
See question “What is the difference between the Mercer pension and the Aegon pension scheme?” for further information.
Aegon are the pensions provider for the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP). Most First Bus employees are in the FBRSP.
You can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan, you can register online with TargetPlan at www.aegon.co.uk/targetplan. Once you have activated your online account, you will be able to see the value of your pension at any time. You will also be able to see your pension contribution history, carry our projections, and transfer in previous pensions (should you wish to combine all of your pension arrangements).
Furthermore, after you have registered with TargetPlan, you can download Aegon’s App and you will receive a code from Aegon approximately 24 hours later. You will then be able to view your pension on your phone too!
If you encounter any issues when downloading the Aegon App and/or you have not received your code, please contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
Mercer are the pension provider for the First UK Bus Pension Scheme for both Silver and Gold levels. For our longer serving employees who were building up pension benefits prior to 5 April 2018, it is possible you might have a pension with Mercer.
You can contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
For employees who have a pension with Mercer, you can register for access to Mercer’s OneView. On OneView, you will be able to use tools such as the ‘Retirement Illustrator’ which provides you with an example of how much your pension income might be at your retirement age.
To register with OneView, your login details would have been provided in your Mercer OneView welcome letter. If you did not receive your welcome letter, or if it was misplaced, please contact Mercer at oneview.helpdesk@mercer.com for assistance.
The Aegon pension, is known as a Defined Contribution (DC) pension scheme where you build up a pension pot over time. Both you and First Bus contribute to your pension pot, which is invested, to try and help grow the funds over time. DC pensions are quite flexible as you can decide how you would like to take your pension benefits when you come to retire in future.
The Mercer pension is known as a Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme. In simple terms, a DB pension provides a guaranteed income for life once you retire. DB pensions are calculated differently to DC pensions, as they are based on how long an employee has worked for the company, an employee’s salary, and other factors.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan, you will need to contact Aegon to increase your pension contributions.
You can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan who are registered with Aegon’s TargetPlan, you will be able to see the value of your pension on TargetPlan at any time. You will also be able to see the value of your pension on the Aegon UK App.
Alternatively, you can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk to find out the value of your pension.
For employees who have a Mercer pension, to find out how much income you will receive when you retire, you can contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
To trace pensions from previous jobs, we would suggest getting in touch with your previous employers to find out the status of your pensions. If this route proves to be unsuccessful, you may wish to try and trace your pension through the gov.uk website.
If you visit www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details, there is a free online service to help you trace your pension(s). Also, you can contact the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193 who may be able to assist.
Whilst First Bus can not provide you with financial advice, there are tools available that may be able to help guide you to see if you would like to increase your pension contributions.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan, if you are already registered with TargetPlan at www.aegon.co.uk/targetplan, you can access MyTarget which will help project what your future pension may look like. Don’t forget, all models such as MyTarget are based on assumptions and the projected amount is not guaranteed.
With MyTarget, you can also include your pension figures from other providers. For example, employees who also have a Mercer pension, you could include the income you are expected to receive, and this will be taken into account when carrying out projections on MyTarget. You can also include your State Pension figures too!
If you need assistance navigating through MyTarget, you can contact Aegon who can talk you through the process. Aegon can view your account with you, when you access MyTarget online. If you require assistance, please contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
Employees could also visit the www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk website which shows how much expenditure may be needed for retirement. The ‘standards’ show three different levels of retirement, and this may be helpful if you think you might need to increase your pension contributions.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), your Aegon pension is invested into asset classes such as stocks and shares, bonds, properties etc.
As your pension is invested in the stock markets and other assets classes, it is common to see the value of your pension fluctuate. This can be dictated from major economical and political events. However, it is important to remember that pensions are a long-term investment.
Most employees in the FBRSP are invested into Aegon’s BlackRock LifePath Flexi fund “the fund”. The fund assumes you’ll stay invested and take an income from your pension at retirement. The fund automatically changes over time as it aims to grow your pension savings in the early years before gradually moving into investments suited for your retirement age.
For further information about how your pension is invested, please click here. This document can also be found on your TargetPlan.
If your pension is lower than you expected, you may have more than one pension at First Bus. If you worked for First Bus before April 2018, you may have been building up pension benefits with Mercer in the First UK Bus Pension Scheme.
Don’t forget, the Gold and Silver levels of the First UK Bus Pension Scheme would not have transferred automatically into your Aegon pension.
If you think you may be a member of the First UK Bus Pension Scheme, contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
No.
First Bus are not allowed to provide financial advice. If you think you may need to engage the services of a professional Financial Adviser, you may wish to visit www.unbiased.co.uk where you will be able to locate a Financial Adviser close to you.
Six months prior to your retirement age, Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) will contact you and provide you with your retirement options. As you get closer to your retirement age, HL will provide you with an ‘At Retirement Letter’ which will include your own personal Annuity summary. If you are looking to purchase an Annuity, which is a regular income for life, HL can help assist you.
In your HL At Retirement Letter, this will also include a section on flexible retirement options such as Drawdown. Drawdown is where you can take your pension bit by bit as and when you need it.
If you do want to move your Aegon pension to a Drawdown account, please note that you are under no obligation to transfer your Aegon pension to HL’s Drawdown account. You can choose which provider’s Drawdown account you would like to use.
If you would like to speak to HL about your retirement options, you can contact HL at any time by calling 0117 314 1798 or by email at retire@hl.co.uk.
No. The Mercer pension scheme and the Aegon pension schemes are separate, and they are different types of pensions schemes. See question “What is the difference between the Mercer pension and the Aegon pension scheme?” for further details.
First Bus are not allowed to provide financial advice; therefore, we cannot advise whether you should or shouldn’t transfer your Mercer pension into your Aegon pension scheme.
However, should an employee wish to consider transferring their Mercer pension to another provider such as Aegon, eligible employees may be able to receive one round of financial advice paid for by the company. Employees would need to request a ‘retirement pack’ from Mercer, and if Origen’s (Financial Advisory Firm) details are within the retirement pack, employees may be eligible for one free round of financial advice.
You can contact Mercer for a retirement pack by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
If an employee would like to learn more about the financial advice offering, please contact pensions@firstbus.co.uk for further information.
Yes, it is possible. If you have similar pensions from previous employers, you can transfer the pensions into your First Bus Retirement Savings Plan with Aegon. You will usually need the reference/account number of the pension(s) you would like to transfer to start the process.
For further information about consolidating your pension pots, please visit Aegon's websites on the links below:
Combine your pension pots with Aegon | Customer | Aegon
To transfer previous pensions into your First Bus Retirement Savings Plan, an employee can start the process on TargetPlan. See question “What is TargetPlan?” if you are not familiar with TargetPlan.
Alternatively, you can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk who will help you through the pension transfer process.
Please note, if you have a previous pension scheme with safeguarded benefits such as a Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme, depending on the value of your DB pension scheme, it is very likely you will need to obtain financial advice to transfer the pension scheme.
There is also no guarantee that a Financial Advisor will recommend you to transfer your previous pension as it may not be suitable for your needs and circumstances.
First Bus are not allowed to provide financial advice therefore we cannot advise whether you should or shouldn’t combine all your pension schemes into one single pension scheme.
As you can see from the question above, it is possible to transfer pensions, but First Bus cannot advise if this would be suitable for your needs and circumstances.
For further information, it may be worth visiting the Money Helper website here, and reading the “consider bringing pension pots together” section. Money Helper offer free impartial guidance which is backed by the government.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP) who have decided to retire more than six months before your targeted retirement age, you will need to contact Aegon and confirm what action you would like to take with your pension.
You will need to provide at least two months’ notice to allow sufficient time for Aegon to process your pension benefits. However, please note there is no guarantee you will receive your pension benefits in two months time should you provide two months' notice. Sometimes it can take a little longer; the more notice you can provide the better!
Don't forget, you can change your targeted retirement age should you wish to continue working. You also have the option of not doing anything immediately with the FBRSP when you come to retire. You can decide what you would like to do with the FBRSP a few years after you retire should you wish.
If you are planning to retire on your targeted retirement age, see question “Will First Bus get in touch with me about my pension before I retire?” for further information on the retirement process.
If you require assistance changing your targeted retirement age, and/or you would like to discuss your retirement options, you can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees who have a Mercer pension, you will need to contact Mercer and provide three months’ notice which should be sufficient for you to receive your pension benefits in time. You can contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
Please note, if you have an Aegon pension (FBRSP) and a Mercer pension, you will need to contact both pension providers to access your pensions!
Simply put, the more notice you can provide, the more likely it is for you to receive your pension benefits on time!
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FRRSP), most employees are not aware that the pension contributions collected in the current month, are paid into employees’ Aegon pensions the following month. Employees need to cease paying pension contributions (sometimes known as ‘opting out’), and once the last pension contribution has been credited to your pension account, you will then be able to access your pension benefits.
Providing as much notice as possible will allow our pension providers to process your pension requests on time.
To cease paying pension contributions you will need to contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), you can currently access your pension from the age of 55. However, don’t forget that the purpose of your pension is to provide yourself with an income in retirement. Furthermore, your pension income will be subject to Income Tax at your marginal rate.
Please note, that from 6 April 2028, the normal minimum pension age is increasing from age 55 to age 57.
Employees who have membership in the Mercer pension scheme, for benefits built up before 6 April 2012, you can take your pension on your 65th birthday. For benefits built up after 6 April 2012, you can take your pension at your State Pension Age (or earlier with reductions).
However, it is possible to take your pension before your 65th birthday, but your pension would be reduced as it will have to pay out for a longer period of time.
For further information on how much your Mercer pension is worth, please contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), there are predominantly three options when accessing your Aegon pension scheme:
1. Purchase an Annuity. If you would like a regular income for the rest of your life, you can achieve this my purchasing an Annuity. An Annuity converts your pension savings into an annual pension where you can receive regular monthly payments. To do this, you would need to transfer your FBRSP to an insurance company who in return will provide you with a guaranteed income for the rest of your life.
If you want to purchase an annuity and think you might need assistance finding an annuity, you can contact Hargreaves Lansdown at 0117 314 1798 or by email at retire@hl.co.uk.
See question “Who are Hargreaves Lansdown and why have I received a letter and/or email from them?” for further information.
You also have the option of taking 25% of the value of your pension as tax-free cash before transferring your pension to another provider to purchase an Annuity.
2. Go into a Drawdown account. If you would like to take your money bit by bit, you can transfer your FBRSP to a Drawdown account. You can transfer your FBRSP to Aegon’s Drawdown account or to a different Drawdown account with any other provider.
You can also take 25% of the value of your pension as tax-free cash before or after you move into drawdown.
With a Drawdown account, your pension savings can remain invested which gives your money a chance to grow. You can then withdraw money as and when needed, but don’t forget, if you have taken 25% tax-free cash, your withdrawals could be taxable.
3. Take all of your pension savings in one go. However, please be aware that the first 25% of the value of your pension would be tax free, but the remaining 75% would be taxable. If you choose this option, you could end up paying a lot of tax.
Please remember, if you decide take 25% tax-free cash, you can't leave the remaining 75% in your current FBRSP. You will need to transfer the residual amount to a Drawdown account, or to another provider if you're not taking your whole pension in one go!
Don't forget, you can change your targeted retirement age should you wish to continue working. You also have the option of not doing anything immediately with the FBRSP when you come to retire. You can decide what you would like to do with the FBRSP a few years after you retire should you wish.
Please be aware that when it comes to deciding what you would like to do with your FBRSP, this is a big decision, and not one that should be taken lightly. First Bus are here to support you but please be aware that we are not allowed to provide regulated financial advice.
If you would like to discuss what options are available with your FBRSP, you can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
You could also contact Pension Wise and book a free 1-hour appointment to discuss your retirement options. See ‘Helpful Resources’ for further information.
For employees in the Mercer pension scheme, there are predominantly three options:
1. Receive a regular monthly income for life.
2. Exchange part of your pension for tax-free cash and receive a reduced regular monthly income for life.
3. You could transfer your pension away from Mercer. The options available to you will then depend on where you transfer your money to.
Please be aware that if you are looking to transfer your pension away from Mercer, if your pension is valued over £30,000, you must take financial advice to be able to transfer your Mercer pension.
Transferring your Mercer pension is an irreversible decision. You would be giving up a guaranteed income for the rest of your life so you must think very carefully before proceeding.
It is the Pensions Regulator’s opinion that for most members, it’s likely to be in their best financial interests to take a pension from the scheme.
However, should an employee wish to consider transferring their Mercer pension to another provider, eligible employees may be able to receive one round of financial advice paid for by the company. Employees would need to request a ‘retirement pack’ from Mercer, and if Origen’s (Financial Advisory Firm) details are within the retirement pack, employees may be eligible for one free round of financial advice.
You can contact Mercer for a retirement pack by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
If an employee would like to learn more about the financial advice offering, please contact pensions@firstbus.co.uk for further information.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), to find out how much your pension is worth, you can check on TargetPlan, or by contacting Aegon directly.
See question “What is TargetPlan?” for further information.
On TargetPlan you can access ‘MyTarget’ which will help project what your future pension may look like. Don’t forget, all models such as MyTarget are based on assumptions and the projected amount is not guaranteed.
If you need assistance navigating through MyTarget, you can contact Aegon who can talk you through the process. Aegon can view your account with you, when you access MyTarget online.
You can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees who have a Mercer pension, you will need to contact Mercer to find out how much income your pension will provide you in retirement.
Please contact Mercer by telephone on 0370 850 0712 or by email at firstpensions.uk@mercer.com.
First Bus cannot advise whether your pension arrangements will provide you with enough income for the rest of your life as this will depend on several factors. You may wish to discuss this for free with a Pensions Specialist from Pension Wise.
Please remember everyone’s needs and circumstances are different and if you are unsure about what option to take with your pension, it may be appropriate to seek financial advice.
Please see ‘Helpful Resources’ for further information about speaking to a Pensions Specialist and/or for further information about locating a Financial Advisor.
No. Historically, employees did have to take both their Mercer and their Aegon pensions at the same time, but this is no longer the case.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), if you decide to take 25% tax-free cash from your pension scheme, you predominantly have two options:
1. You can take your 25% tax-free cash from your FBRSP, but you can’t then leave the remaining 75% in your FBRSP. You will need to something with this portion of money e.g. move to another pension, move into a Drawdown account, purchase an Annuity etc.
2. Alternatively, an employee can leave a minimum of £1,000 in their FBRSP, and then transfer the remaining amount of money to a Drawdown account, another pension etc.
As £1,000 will be left in an employee's FBRSP, this will mean that the employee can stay in their current FBRSP pension scheme and continue to benefit from death in service cover.
If option number 2 comes across as confusing and/or complicated, you may wish to contact Aegon to talk you through the process. You can contact Aegon by telephone on 01733 353 496 or by email at my.pension@aegon.co.uk.
For employees in the First Bus Retirement Savings Plan (FBRSP), Aegon will contact employees six months before their retirement age. A retirement pack will be sent with the pension options laid out. If Aegon don’t receive a response, Aegon will write to the employee again three months before their retirement age. Again, if no response is forthcoming, Aegon will write to the employee one month before their retirement age citing urgent action is required.
Once an employee has selected what option they would like to take from their Aegon pension, this will be processed by Aegon once they have received final confirmation of your pension option.
Don't forget, you can change your targeted retirement age should you wish to continue working. You also have the option of not doing anything immediately with the FBRSP when you come to retire. You can decide what you would like to do with the FBRSP a few years after you retire should you wish.
Furthermore, Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) will contact you around your retirement age. HL will provide you with an ‘At Retirement Letter’ which will include your own personal Annuity summary. If you are looking to purchase an Annuity, which is a regular income for life, HL can help assist you.
For employees who have a Mercer pension, Mercer will write to you three to six months prior to your retirement age. You will be provided with a retirement pack which will have your pension options laid out. Depending on when an employee returns their pension options form to Mercer, most members receive their tax-free cash (if chosen) in approximately four to six weeks’ time.
This depends on which scheme you are in. To find out which scheme you are in, please use the decision tree on "Which scheme am I in?" page
You will need to contact the scheme you are in directly. To find out which scheme you are in, please use the decision tree on the "Which scheme am I in?" page.
You will need to contact the scheme you are in directly. To find out which scheme you are in, please use the decision tree on the "Which Scheme am I in?" page. You can then contact the scheme to provide them with details of your nominated beneficiaries (note – each scheme you are a member of will have a beneficiary form for you to fill in).