5.7 Transfer to the EU and coordinated organisations

5.7.1 This section applies to transfers to employment in the EU (covered by the Communities Pension Scheme (CPS)), and the following coordinated organisations listed below:

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD);
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and its agencies (the Scheme Administrator can advise you of the NATO agencies covered);
• The Council of Europe;
• The Western European Union (WEU);
• The European Space Agency (ESA);
• The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.

5.7.2 Members who join one of these organisations are treated as having left the CSP arrangements. This is the case even if the member has the right to return to the Civil Service.

Members:

• will be awarded the pension benefit they have accrued, or
• may apply for a transfer value to be paid to the CPS or to one of the coordinated organisations pension arrangements.

5.7.3 If a member asks to transfer rights to one of these organisations, they should contact the Scheme Administrator who will determine if a transfer is possible and calculate the transfer value where appropriate.

5.7.4 You must tell members planning to join an EU or coordinated organisations what will happen to their pension. Before they start their overseas appointment, you should tell the member that:

• former members who return from the EU or a coordinated organisation to a CSP employer are treated as new entrants to the CSP arrangements. They start a fresh period of pensionable service (unless the two periods of service are compulsorily aggregated);
• if they are a former member and they return to the CSP arrangements, they can ask to transfer their accrued benefits in the overseas scheme to the CSP arrangements. The transfer value is treated in exactly the same way as a transfer from any other outside employer. The transfer value is converted into reckonable service or a pension credit in the CSP arrangements, depending on which scheme the member is eligible to join, on a non-Club basis.

5.7.5 Former members who do not ask for a transfer value of their pension rights from the EU and coordinated organisations scheme will be paid a cash severance grant if:

• they are under age 60, and
• have not completed 10 years’ actual service at the time they leave.

5.7.6 The Scheme Administrator can tell you about the pension options available to a member returning after taking a cash severance grant. These options apply to a member returning from employment with OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Cooperation en matiere d’Armement/Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation). OCCAR is not one of the coordinated organisations.

5.7.7 You must tell HMRC about a member returning to the CSP arrangements from the EU or coordinated organisation.