My wife left employment this year (after working for 7 yrs) and had to find a place for her pension - She put it in a vested account with UBS. When she left her previous employer however, she was told that if she left Switzerland she could get the money back - in cash.

What amount of the money shown in her vested account (say its 100K for simplicity) does she have access to? Is the 100K including all 3 pillars?

We've now hopped over the border in France, and are looking to buy a house. Clearly reducing the amount of mortgage we need is in our interest, so getting our hands on the pension now (rather than having it accumulate next to zero interest) is in our interest!

Also, if I understand some of these posts correctly, leaving things as they are now, she will only be entitled to a UK state pension when she retires!? Surely not...?