What is a defined benefit pension?
A defined benefit pension pays a guaranteed income in retirement based on salary and length of service rather than on investment performance. The employer, not the member, carries the investment risk. Most private sector schemes are now closed to new members.
The two common designs are final salary, based on pay at or near leaving, and career average revalued earnings, based on pay across the whole career with each year revalued. Public sector schemes are now largely the latter.
There is usually no pot to inherit. Instead the scheme typically pays a spouse's or dependant's pension, often around half the member's, plus a lump sum if death occurs before retirement. What is payable, and to whom, is set by scheme rules rather than by your will.
Transferring out converts a guaranteed income into a pot, and is irreversible. Regulated advice is compulsory where the transfer value exceeds £30,000, and the regulatory starting assumption is that transferring is not in the member's interests.