Finding the right adviser for your UK pension while living overseas is a genuinely different exercise from finding one back home – the adviser needs to understand both UK pension rules and your country of residence, and be properly licensed to advise you specifically as a non-resident. Here’s what to actually check.
Start With Regulatory Status, Not Marketing
Before anything else, verify an adviser’s regulatory status independently – the FCA Register for UK-based advice, or the equivalent register for wherever the adviser or their firm is actually licensed. Don’t take a certificate or a claim at face value; a legitimate adviser will encourage you to check this yourself and won’t be uncomfortable with the question.
Check for the Right Qualification, Not Just Any Qualification
General financial advice qualifications aren’t the same as the specific qualification needed for defined benefit transfer advice. If any part of your pension situation involves a final salary or defined benefit scheme, the adviser handling that specific piece needs to hold the Pension Transfer Specialist (PTS) qualification and the firm needs the corresponding FCA permission – not every financial adviser has this, and it’s worth asking directly rather than assuming.
Understand How They’re Actually Paid
Ask directly whether fees are charged as a flat amount or as a percentage of your pension value. Percentage-based fees on transfers are something the FCA has specifically flagged as a potential conflict of interest, since they can create an incentive to recommend a transfer regardless of whether it genuinely serves you. A transparent adviser will set out their fee structure clearly, in writing, before any work begins – and won’t be evasive if the recommendation ends up being to leave your pension exactly where it is.
Ask How They Handle the Cross-Border Piece Specifically
A UK-only adviser may understand pension rules perfectly well but have no visibility into your country of residence’s tax treatment of pension income, QROPS transfers, or lump sums – which, as covered elsewhere on this site, can differ dramatically from country to country. Ask specifically how they handle this: do they have in-house cross-border expertise, do they work alongside a local tax professional, or do they simply not address it at all? For final salary transfers specifically, a compliant process for an expat typically involves a UK Pension Transfer Specialist working alongside a locally licensed cross-border adviser – if an adviser claims to handle the entire process alone without this structure, it’s worth asking exactly how they’re covering both sides.
Watch for Pressure and Urgency
Genuine pension advice takes time – a proper fact-find, analysis, and for defined benefit transfers, a formal regulated comparison process. Any adviser pushing you toward a quick decision, particularly around a CETV deadline or a “limited time” incentive, deserves extra scrutiny rather than trust. Time pressure is a tool used far more often by illegitimate operators than legitimate ones.
Ask What Happens If the Answer Is “Don’t Transfer”
A genuinely independent adviser should be entirely comfortable telling you that staying in your existing pension, or not transferring at all, is the right answer – because for many people, it is. If an adviser seems to assume a transfer is the inevitable outcome before any analysis has even started, that’s worth treating as a signal.
Get a Second Opinion for Larger Decisions
For a defined benefit transfer or a QROPS decision involving a substantial pension, it’s entirely reasonable to want a second, independent view before committing – particularly since some of these decisions are difficult or costly to reverse. A properly regulated adviser shouldn’t discourage you from taking the time to do this.
Where to Go From Here
Our Expat Pension Planning hub covers the wider picture of how we work with licensed advisers for our own clients, and our Final Salary & Defined Benefit Pension Transfers page covers the two-adviser structure in detail. Our pension scams guide covers the warning signs of illegitimate operators specifically. For our wider services, visit our Premier Expat Mortgages homepage.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check if an adviser is genuinely regulated?
Check the FCA Register (or the equivalent register for their claimed jurisdiction) independently, rather than trusting a certificate they show you.
Does every financial adviser handle defined benefit transfers?
No – this requires the specific Pension Transfer Specialist qualification and corresponding FCA permission, which not every adviser holds.
Should I be concerned about percentage-based fees?
Worth asking about directly – the FCA has flagged this fee structure as a potential conflict of interest on transfers specifically.
Get in touch and we’ll explain exactly how our own introduction process to Just Service Global works, including licensing and fee structure.
