Pension Savings, Pension Drawdown, or both, but no Secure Income

If you don’t want to transfer your pension to Parmenion, you can choose another pension provider and transfer to it instead. You or your adviser will have to contact your chosen provider and ask them to start the transfer process. Your chosen provider will then contact us. You do not need to arrange the transfer with us directly.

You must contact your chosen provider, or ask your adviser to do so, early enough that we receive the transfer instruction before 30 October 2026. Your chosen provider will need to confirm that it can accept your pension and complete its transfer requirements.

Depending on your age and circumstances, you may be able to take some or all of your pension as cash. You may also be able to use your pension to buy an income for life, known as an annuity.

These choices can affect:

• The tax you pay 
• The income you have later on 
• Any state benefits you receive 
• How long your pension savings may last 
• Your investments 
• Your wider retirement plans 

 

Not every option will be available to or suitable for everyone. Some decisions may be difficult or impossible to reverse. We strongly recommend speaking with a financial adviser before making a decision.

Find a financial adviser

If you decide after the transfer that the Parmenion SIPP is not right for you, you can transfer it to another provider at any time without penalty. You can do this without a financial adviser. The receiving provider will need to meet Parmenion’s transfer requirements. You cannot return to The Retirement Account because it is closing.

Parmenion works with financial advisers rather than directly with clients. The planned transfer can still go ahead if you do not currently have a financial adviser. But once your pension is with Parmenion, you will need an adviser to manage your account and make changes, including:

• Setting up a new Direct Debit 
• Changing your investments 
• Setting up or changing regular pension withdrawals 
• Setting up or changing other instructions, such as regular crystallisations 

 

If you do not currently have a financial adviser, you can use our Find a financial adviser page.

Your investments will transfer directly to the Parmenion SIPP without having to be sold. But because other investment providers are involved in moving the funds, individual investments may transfer at different times. We aim to complete the process within 10 working days. If it takes longer, we will contact you.

Your Account Summary shows the investments Canada Life held for you at the stated extract date. Transactions you requested after that date, or changes made as part of closing the Core Range, may mean the investments that transfer are different.

As part of closing The Retirement Account, we plan to close our range of Canada Life insured pension funds, known as the Core Range. This only affects customers who hold one or more of these funds.

A small number of Core Range funds hold several underlying investments. Before the Core Range closes, those funds will be changed so that they hold a single investment instead. If this applies to you, we have already written to you separately.

The Core Range closure and the later transfer to Parmenion are separate stages. Our investments and Core Range page explains the process in more detail.

Core Range fund changes

Your Direct Debit collections with Canada Life will stop as we prepare to transfer your investments. Depending on how often your payments are collected, we may already have taken your final Direct Debit.

If you want to continue making regular contributions, a new Direct Debit must be set up after your Parmenion SIPP opens. If you have more than one Direct Debit in your Account Summary, each one must be set up again separately. You will need a financial adviser to arrange this.

If you become a Parmenion customer, existing regular Pension Drawdown withdrawals and regular crystallisation instructions will continue.

To help prevent delays, regular withdrawals and crystallisations due in October and November 2026 will take place on 12 October and 12 November 2026 respectively. This means they may happen earlier than usual.

Depending on how regularly it’s due to happen, your next payment or crystallisation may be carried out by Parmenion. Parmenion will confirm future arrangements once your new SIPP has been set up. After the transfer, you will need a financial adviser to set up or change these instructions.

If you transfer to another provider, your existing regular withdrawals and crystallisation instructions with Canada Life will stop. You will need to make arrangements with the new provider.

Some services and transactions will be temporarily unavailable at certain points. There will be separate service pauses for the Core Range closure and the transfer to Parmenion.

For the latest service-pause dates, affected services and transaction restrictions, check our online support hub before requesting a transaction or change.

Check current service information

The Parmenion SIPP has its own terms, investment choices and charging structure. Charges can affect how much your pension is worth and the investment returns you receive. Parmenion will provide more information about your new account and its charges.

In most cases, what customers pay is expected to be broadly similar to what they pay with us at the time of transfer. Parmenion will provide a personalised charge breakdown in your Welcome Pack. Your Customer Guide explains how the Parmenion SIPP charges work and compares them with The Retirement Account charges.