A call from National Treasury for public comment on proposed changes to legislation, as part of the overhaul of SA’s retirement savings industry, discloses a very important aspect about accessing your pension fund in that members of pension and retirement funds will not be able to access their existing pension fund money once the new legislation comes into effect next year.

In effect, the new ‘two-pot’ system seems to have evolved into a ‘three-pot’ system.

The most recent statement from Treasury labels the existing funds in a pension or retirement fund as “vested funds” that will be placed in a “vested pot” when the new regulations come into effect on 1 March 2023.

The vested pot remains untouchable.

People will not be able to access any of the funds in either the vested pot – all the accumulated contributions and accumulated returns up to 28 February 2023 – or the new retirement pot. Only funds in the new savings pot will be accessible, which will still be empty come March next year.

Treasury’s statement explains it clearly: “All contributions and growth that are accumulated before 1 March 2023 will have to be valued at the date immediately prior to implementation, to enable vesting of rights (called the ‘vested pot’). The rights of members in these funds will be protected – but it also means that the conditions that were attached to those contributions will remain in place.

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