Fees for implementing pension sharing orders

AlanF

Am presently going through a divorce, and am a member of the NHS Pension Scheme, as is my spouse. We are agreeing a 50:50 sharing of our pensions as part of the divorce settlement. This involves a pension sharing order based on the CETV obtained from NHS Pensions. However, the charge for implementing the sharing order (payable to NHS Pensions) is £2,904.:mad:

This seems a very excessive charge here for moving funds from one existing NHS pension fund to another, and I had it in my head that governmental institutions (and banks!) were obliged to make charges that were 'reasonable and proportional' to the work involved. I find it hard to believe that this level of work will really cost £3K.

Almost certainly a waste of time and effort to challenge such a large government department, but wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Thanks

AlanF

Debt_Free_Chick

It might be worth asking them to set out how the charges arose. I doubt it's a fee for simply moving the funds. More likely, it includes fees for the actuaries to calculate the value of the pension.

Ask for clarification

robmatic

Pension sharing charges are set by the ABI and are therefore standardised across the industry.

They might seem like a lot, but I've been involved with pension sharing cases before on the administrator side and they can be horrendously time-consuming. Charge out rate for DB admin is say £100 per hour and much more for actuarial work and it all adds up.

Debt_Free_Chick

The NHS pension scheme publishes a schedule of charges online, here

RichandJ

I must admit, I'm a bit surprised that two possibly identical pensions are being shared via PSO route. Especially at 50% each. If they're both roughly the same, what on earth is the point ?

Costs & hassle v. clean break ?

Edited to add: does your/their solicitor really know what they're doing or are they just after fees ?