Doctor's Financial Clinic

This week I am answering a number of questions on Times Radio about difficult pension companies, how to organise your freelance life and whether to move pension when you change jobs.

All the articles on this site are for journalistic purposes only and you should always seek independent advice.

Should I move my pension with my job?

Q: I am in my 20s and have worked for a couple of small companies and now have a longer-term job. I already have a few pension pots. I can imagine this will get more and more complex over my career.

Should I move my pension pots to my new company so it is easier to keep track of?

Response:

Moving your pension does make your life admin a lot easier to handle. Especially as you may end up working for a large number of companies over your career and you would have to keep track of them all to make sure you haven’t forgotten to claim your pension when you retire,

Loosing track of your pension and missing out on the money, is more common than you might think. It has been estimated that there could be about 3.3 million lost or forgotten pension pots out there, worth an average of £9,500 each

– over £31.1 billion in total.

One of the things to be very careful about is not lose out on any guarantees or benefits you might have with one pension, when you transfer to another one. Ask for an explicit explanation of any of these advantages and what you might lose, before making any transfer. These are particularly relevant with older pensions but may apply to any pension,

Workplace default pension schemes are restricted in what they can charge, so there may not be much of a difference in the charging structure if you move from one provider to another.

I’m told the transfer should be quick and efficient. My experience is that things are rarely simple – so I would be interested to her your experiences.

Importantly, check if there are any charges involved in a transfer or if the transfer value is different from the pension value you have been given. I am told there shouldn’t be a cost – but again my experience is that hidden charges often get applied by financial services companies, so it pays to check.

The whole process should become simpler when the Pension Dashboard comes into force. That will keep track of your pensions across all providers, but it’s taking ages to get working. It might be operational sometime next year.

You can get some very general free advice from a government service called PensionWise, provided through Money Helper. Be sure you are using the government free site as there are some similar sounding ones which charge.

The government runs a Pension Tracing Service which may be able to find the company that ran the pension for a company you used to work for. It is free so be careful not to be confused with the many copycat sites.

It is also worth keeping companies informed of your address each time you move so they know where to send your pension updates.

Denied access to my pension

Q: I was in a pension scheme between 1988-1989 when working for a company in Bristol.

The pension scheme was transferred to a new company some years ago. I receive regular updates from them on the value of my pension pot which I now want to withdraw.

But they have informed me that I need to obtain signatures from the trustees of the scheme to be able to withdraw my pension.

However, I have had no contact with my previous employer since leaving in 1989 and gather that the company is now in administration so I have no idea who would be the appropriate signatories.

Although they have told me they require a signature from the Trustee, they also say even they don't know who the correct signatures would be from but they are adamant they need signatures before they will release my money.

I feel stuck - and depressed that this has been going on since January and I can see no end to it.

Can you help?

RESPONSE

Normally the trustees only get involved if you are trying to access your pension earlier than would normally be expected and the payout is dependant on trustee discretion. There might also be some small print in some defined benefit schemes which restrict access. These schemes are very fare and few between these days as they guaranteed a payout and there aren’t many new schemes like that anymore. Even if restrictions did apply, it feels to me unreasonable for the pension company to insist you get a signature from a person they can’t identify and for. Reason they haven’t specified.

Normally the main stumbling block might be just demonstrating you are who you say you are – but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

All of which raises the question of what you should do.

1: First of all write to the CEO’s office outlining what you consider to be an unreasonable and obstructive approach they are taking which is barring you from access to your money. Ask him/her if they can help resolve the issue without you making an official complaint or taking it up with the regulator. Say you will wait 14- 21 days (choose a period you think is reasonable) before launching an official complaint. Outline how long you have already been waiting. You may be able to find the address on the company website, visa LinkedIn or on some spec ialist search databases you should be able to find on the Internet. Use their company email address do not try and contact them to their personal email address.

2: If you do not get an adequate response, launch a formal complaint through the company’s complaint system.

Make your case clearly, explaining the nature of the problem and the timeline involved. Explain that if no adequate solution is found, you will escalate the issue to the regulator.

3: If you do not get an adequate response, complain to the regulator.

Depending on what type of pension we are talking about, different regulators will have responsibility.

If it is a workplace pension, then it will be the Pension Regulator.

Its personal pension, then you complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

Part freelancer and part PAYE – how do I keep track of my tax?

Q: I am a freelancer and work a number of jobs. Some say I am responsible for my tax and some deduct income tax at source. What do I do to keep track of it all and make sure I am paying the right tax?

RESPONSE

First of all let’s deal with how to keep track of everything.

Keeping track of your income can be a bit of a pain. There are a number of systems which enable you to create invoices and track your income and expenditure. Quickbooks and Xero are two of the most famous. But they can cost a bit to subscribe and may be too detailed for your needs. There are many systems which say they are free but I have found have hidden costs once you are trying to do anything useful with them. The one I have heard the best things about, is Quickfile which has paid and unpaid options.

From April 2026, self-employed individuals and landlords with a combined annual income of £50,000 or more will be required to:

• Maintain digital records using MTD (Making Tax Digital) -compatible software.

• Submit quarterly updates of income and expenses to HMRC.

In addition, they will need to provide end-of-year information covering other income sources, such as:

• Dividends

• Bank interest

• Employment income

• Capital gains and other miscellaneous income

Once submitted, HMRC will generate a tax calculation, which you can review before filing a Final Declaration to confirm all income has been reported.

…Now let’s deal with paying the right amount of tax.

When you fill put your tax return, for the part of your work where your employer deducts PAYE, this is treated as employment income.

You’ll need to include it in the “Employment” section of your tax return:

• Use the details from your P60 (if you were employed at the end of the tax year) or P45 (if you left mid-year).

• Enter your gross pay and the tax deducted as shown on that form.

• HMRC uses this to confirm how much tax has already been paid through PAYE.

If you have more than one PAYE job, you’ll get a separate P60 from each employer at the end of the tax year.

For the part where you’re paid gross, this is likely treated as self-employed income (unless it’s another form of untaxed income like casual or freelance work).

You’ll need to:

• Complete the “Self-employment” section of the return.

• Report your total gross income from that work.

• Deduct any allowable business expenses (e.g. travel, equipment, phone, etc.).

• The result is your taxable profit, on which you’ll pay Income Tax and possibly Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance.

If it’s small amounts, under £1,000 for the year, you may be able to claim the trading allowance — meaning you don’t have to register as self-employed or pay tax on that bit (unless you want to claim actual expenses).

HMRC then totals everything and works out how much tax that you owe.

Here is a guide to the timetable of when the forms have to be delivered:

Please check independently as rules change all the time.

• Tax year ends 5th April 2025

• Register for Self-Assessment (if new to self-employment) 5th October 2025

• Paper tax return deadline 31st October 2025

• Online tax return deadline 31 January 2026

• Tax payment deadline Pay any tax due for 2024–25 and your first “payment on account” for 2025–26 (if applicable) 31st January 2026

• Second payment on account (if required) Second instalment towards next year’s bill 31st July 2026

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