There are already a lot of people - particularly expats - moving their monies into QROPS. One of the problems with pensions though is getting the message across that this facility exists. Most people that I talk to might have seen something in passing in a newspaperor or been looking at their pension papers and suddenly picked up on this bit of jargon, but you're right that they whole QROPS concept is still low profile. Which is strange really, as in general if somebody is offshore - particularly resident offshore - a QROPS can offer them some really compelling benefits.
But these types of pension trasnfer have only been doable from a UK pension scheme into an overseas realistically since December 2007 - not even two year as a I write this. As the word gets out, and as we learn a bit more about the options for mobility around the European Union, more and more of these will actually be done.
QROPS were wrapped up in the what we call the pension simplification legislation that came about in April 2006 and the rules and regulations for overseas pension transfers were quite complicated and largely oriented toward transfers between occupational/company pension schemes. It was only later that the legislation was clarified and then Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) gave authorisation to these companies offshore that they can actually receive pension monies.
Now what most people will find is if the pension company offshore didn’t have QROPS status and that’s an approval process they have to go through with HMRC, our Inland Revenue, then the pension company in the UK wouldn’t allow a transfer to the QROPS scheme. So the QROPS status is very very important and realistically those have only been available now for a very very short time.
It's not anything untoward; it just takes times for these new ways of planning for retirement to be standardised and talked about in the press. Importantly, all the words in "qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme" mean something in terms of approval from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. There is an approval process and those companies that have got QROPS status have given an absolute undertaking that they will follow the rules as laid down to accept those pension transfers into them.
They are a specialised investment and your financial adviser should point out to you the advantages and risks involved compared to a UK pension arrangement and also explain why it is the right product for you.
Something similar has been around for a long time, but the name is new.