Company Pension Move!!!

mil7071

Company is fishing around at my message - so deleted

mil7071

Company is fishing around at my message - so deletedCompany is fishing around at my message - so deleted

penrhyn

Are there no employee representatives on the pension fund committee, if indeed there is one? You mean Jessops the photography shop people.

dunstonh

I also know that the financial advisor (friend of the MD's) has recieved over £100,000 for this transaciton.

Good for him. If thats what the firm and he have agreed then its between the firm and the adviser and nothing to do with you.

Is this legal

Yes it is. Its not your pension, its your employers.

You cant just switch pensions willy nilly. You have to have justifiable reasons for doing do. Chances are its something like a legacy GPPP to a lower cost GPPP or GSHP. Impossible to say based on what you say.

It is unlikely to be a COMP/CIMP transfer although that is still possible (as COMPs tend to be administered by larger firms and not one individual). Or perhaps its not just one IFA but a larger firm involved and it is a buy out or COMP/CIMP transfer and you don't know the details and are making assumptions. There are far too many variables which we dont know and I suspect you dont either.

MikeJones_2

Hi mil7071,

As dunstonh says, there is not enough information in your post to be able to offer constructive comment.

A quick web search reveals at least two different pension provisions provided by Jessops plc, assuming you are indeed referring to the photography goup.

Here's a couple of the links:

- Investors in Jessops should focus on the risk (The Independent)

- Financial Review (Jessops plc) (pdf - 2 pages)

Mike

I work in the field of Pension Education and Pension Guidance in the UK. I am a member of the Specialist Pensions Forum as well as being a Voluntary Adviser for The Pensions Advisory Service. I work with scheme members, employers, trustees, scheme administrators and advisers on most things to do with employer sponsored pension schemes. The views expressed by me in this thread are my personal opinions. You should seek professional advice from an appropriately experienced and qualified adviser. I am not an IFA.

Debt_Free_Chick

mil7071 wrote: »

My company has moved my pension, and infact the pension of all employees from Jessops to Scottish Widows without any discussion. I also know that the financial advisor (friend of the MD's) has recieved over £100,000 for this transaciton. Is this legal, or should we have had a say as a contributing employee.:rolleyes:

I'm not clear about what has happended here - Jessops don't provide pensions, whereas Scottish Widows do.

Can you elaborate on what you think has happened, please? Some details of the old plan i.e. the one transferred to Scottish Widows?

Has your pension physically been transferred? Or has the company simply introduced a new plan?

What type of plan was the old one - look in the booklet.

All this will help us to understand what's happened and then we can make some specific suggestions.

Debt_Free_Chick

mil7071 wrote: »

thanks for the advise

Give us a break, eh?

Some of us work.

Some of us work AND commute for four hours a day.

Some of us work AND commute for four hours a day AND walk the dog before leaving the house, whilst you're sat there watching Bargain Hunt!

And then we dish out advice on here, for free and in our "spare" time - mine is not spare as there's the European washing up mountain in my kitchen

dunstonh

You are focussing on the commission. That doesnt matter. You dont pay the commission.

What were charges on the old scheme?
What are the charges on the new scheme?
How do the investment options compare?
What type of pension was it?
what type of pension scheme is it now?

Mort_Gage

mil7071 wrote: »

Please correct me if i'm wrong but it looks very fraudulant to me!!:mad:

If you believe that fraud has been committed then you should inform the appropriate authorities rather than making potentially libellous remarks on a public forum.

Whilst you might feel aggrieved at the manner in which the transfer took place I would imagine that it was done legally.

As Dunstonh comments above, the financial adviser was paid for providing a service and fixating on the amount they were paid is counter productive.

mil7071

Company is fishing around at my message - so deleted

Debt_Free_Chick

mil7071 wrote: »

the pension was move from 'Jessop personal pernsion Trust' invested in the Gartmore range of funds (Jessop fund managers) to Scotish widows pension scheme.

So are you now in a completely different pension scheme? Or are you in the same scheme, with the investment funds managed by Scottish Widows instead of Gartmore?

Myself and other employees pay in 2% per month and the company adds 4%. The reason for our concern is that the pension was moved with no discussion, and agreed between the MD (who is the pension representative - solely) and his friend the financial advisor. For the transaction he recieved over £100k.

How do you know that the MD actually received £100k or anything at all? Is this just gossip and rumour?

If you are in the same funds, but the investment funds were transferred, then there's not usually any commission on this type of transfer as investment funds are not "products" as such.

So you see, its not the company money, its the employees,[/quote]

Or you could argue that at least some of it is the company's money as they contribute too. There's nothing wrong with the company's contribution being used to fund any charges - if there are any.

and its all very suspicous that the deal was done between MD and friend - surely there is at least a risk of 'conflict of interest' and the possibility that the transfer was not in the interest of the funds, more so the interest of the largest amount of commission payed to the advisor.

Please correct me if i'm wrong but it looks very fraudulant to me!!:mad:

We really need some hard, cold facts to go on. I doubt it's fraudulent - even if commission were genuinely paid to the IFA, he is bound by the FSA rules and would need to demonstrate that the transfer was in the best interests of the client.