My pension firm 'blocked' me from moving £350k retirement fund overseas
- Steve Bentley, 70, contacted This is Money after months of frustration
A company boss who has lived abroad for 20 years got embroiled in what he dubs a 'Kafkaesque battle' with a pension firm over his £350,000 retirement fund.
Steve Bentley, pictured, says UK pension provider Curtis Banks unfairly blocked him from moving his pension abroad after a minor administrative error by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs.
This was despite the error already having been corrected and apologised for by the tax office.
Steve Bentley: Company boss says having his pension frozen 'is causing immense stress'
The 70-year-old owner of an aviation services business in Bulgaria turned to This is Money for help, telling us: 'Having this amount frozen by bureaucratic incompetence is causing immense stress.'
Bentley, who founded his business after moving abroad from Lancashire, wanted to move his private pension to a local scheme operated by the Belgian bank KBC Group.
He started the process in August, but it was delayed by a discrepancy in the name of the pension scheme on a list held by HMRC of 'recognised overseas pension schemes', known as ROPS.
The fund he wanted to move his pension to was called Voluntary Pension Fund UBB, but HMRC incorrectly listed it as simply Pension Fund UBB.
He says after this was corrected in mid-November, Curtis Banks still insisted that his new scheme provide an HMRC letter confirming renotification to the list as well.
Bentley says that as HMRC does not send out such letters, Curtis was asking the impossible.
He said: 'Despite being sent the HMRC apology letter and the link to the now-updated, live HMRC Government website confirming the scheme is valid, Curtis Banks still refuses to transfer the money.
'It is ignoring the live HMRC data and stalling for a "re-registration letter", which is not legally required. It is placing its internal box-ticking above the authority of the UK tax office.'
Bentley, who has been a tax resident in Bulgaria for 20 years and draws the equivalent of the state pension there, adds: 'If they are doing this to a CEO who understands regulation, I dread to think how they are treating vulnerable pensioners who cannot fight back.'
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He contacted This is Money as 'a last resort' due to the impasse, and also wrote to the MP of his former constituency in Lancashire, where he still has family and owns property.
After we contacted Curtis Banks, which is owned by financial adviser platform Nucleus, it transferred his cash to his new pension scheme.
A spokesperson says: 'The safety of our customers’ pensions is our top priority. Transferring to a scheme that cannot be identified on HMRC’s recognised overseas pensions scheme list poses a risk to the safety of their pension, a matter which we take very seriously.
'While our usual process is to obtain written documentation of a scheme’s registration, in view of the delays caused by HMRC, we expedited this once we saw the required change on their website. We’ve confirmed to Mr Bentley that the transfer has been completed.
'Our investigation into this complaint is nearing conclusion and once finalised we’ll offer a goodwill payment for the distress and inconvenience caused.'
An HMRC spokesperson says: 'We apologise for listing "Voluntary Pension Fund UBB" incorrectly as "Pension Fund UBB" on the public HMRC ROPS list. We rectified this on 17 November 2025 after we became aware of this.
'The list allows administrators of registered pension schemes, as one part of their due diligence, to verify that an entity on the list has notified HMRC that it meets the conditions to be a recognised overseas pension scheme.'
'We do not provide letters to pension providers stating that we have amended the list. It has a section which shows the date updates to it were made.'
Bentley has rejected a £250 payment offered by Curtis for distress and inconvenience, and is seeking redress for financial loss due to the transfer delay. He has made a complaint about the case to the Pensions Ombudsman.
Why would someone move to an overseas pension?
Some people who live abroad decide to move their UK pensions too because they want to join their overseas employer's scheme or find it more convenient or cheaper.
HMRC's ROPS list is made up of providers that have told it they meet the conditions to be a 'recognised overseas pension scheme' and have asked to be included.
It says on the ROPS list web page: 'We cannot guarantee these are ROPS or that any transfers to them will be free of UK tax.
'It’s your responsibility to find out if you have to pay tax on any transfer of pension savings.
'We will usually pursue any UK tax charges (and interest for late payment) arising from transfers to overseas entities that do not meet the ROPS requirements even when they appear on this list.'
HMRC may impose a 25 per cent tax known as an overseas transfer charge on moving pensions overseas. But there are exemptions if your employer sponsors your move and provides the pension scheme, or if you live in the same country as the new scheme is based for the first five years.
The free Government-backed MoneyHelper site has a guide to moving UK pensions overseas, which has more details on the tax rules and penalties and warnings against falling for overseas pension scams.
It says: 'As there’s a risk you could be worse off transferring your pension overseas, it’s a good idea to pay for financial advice in the UK and in the country you want to move your pension to.'
It has a guide to finding a pension or retirement adviser based in the UK, but says: 'You’ll need to do your own research to find an adviser overseas. When searching make sure to check the adviser’s: fees, including if they charge commission; qualifications; experience; regulatory status.
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