Confused.....

kennyseddon

Please be gentle with me, I seem to be getting mixed messages about the April changes to personal pensions. After the programme last night I decided to contact my insurance company about the current value of my plan and information as to how and when I could start the process of withdrawing my pot (how much notice do they want etc.) I am 59 and unable to work at the moment due to ill health.
I was brusquely informed that they couldn't answer my question has nothing has been altered yet , and until April they do not no what is going to happen. She also said that the proposed changes were the governments and they did not know if it was going to be not company policy at all.
Confused, I contacted the Pensions Advisory Service only to be told more or less the same thing, saying it was up to individual company whether they followed the new guidelines, I did say was it not government legislation? and he used the analogy that the law says 30mph but it cant stop you breaking it ????
Confused. Is it me? What am I missing. Or am I just thick.
As I say , be gentle with me
Thanks

xylophone

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2825448/Pension-firms-warn-bank-account-services-not-ready-April.html

Your company might not be ready - you might need to change providers?

kennyseddon

Hi, it wasn't that they wouldn't be ready, both the company and Pensions Advisory Service seemed to making the point that they didn't have to let you have access to all your pension pot if it was not company policy.
Thanks

Drp8713

The analogy they gave wasnt great. What they meant was your pension company may offer a basic stakeholder pension, they might not have the system to offer drawdown or might not want to change their business model to offer it. You therefore might want to look at the SIPP providers who are more suited to it.

Its like going into the corner shop and asking for a bottle of Krug, they might have something wet and fizzy on the shelf but if you want the real deal you might need go to a better shop.

Thrugelmir

kennyseddon wrote: »

I did say was it not government legislation?

The legislation will allow insurers to. The legislation will not force insurers to.

The speed limit is being raised to 30 mph next April. If I wish to drive at 25 mph I can.

My car will only do 25 mph however. Unless my passengers pay for a new engine. I'm unable to go as fast as I am allowed to after next April.

Skinnydad

This is very interesting and a play on words. The good old english language eh! So what is being implied here is that the pension company may not allow you to withdraw your money and may try and railroad you into taking other options. If you have a large pension pot >300k then you wouldn't live long enough to use up the fund, looks like you'd need to move providers to try and get your money out and no doubt the transfer value will be reduced as it always is.

Lild

Kenny I also rang today PAS and my LGPS, we seem to be in limbo if we are 59yrs, cant access anything, it seems local gov are not equipped to deal with questions either.

Bit like the 6 yrs extra on the state pension age, I nor others agreed to that but they did it anyway, and in such a short space of time to make any provision for retirement.

mgdavid

Skinnydad wrote: »

This is very interesting and a play on words. The good old english language eh! So what is being implied here is that the pension company may not allow you to withdraw your money and may try and railroad you into taking other options. If you have a large pension pot >300k then you wouldn't live long enough to use up the fund, looks like you'd need to move providers to try and get your money out and no doubt the transfer value will be reduced as it always is.

No; transfers of DC pots (stakeholders, PPs etc) are usually free of charge.

hyubh

Lild wrote: »

Kenny I also rang today PAS and my LGPS, we seem to be in limbo if we are 59yrs, cant access anything

The LGPS is a DB scheme, so the 2015 changes are largely irrelevant (only impact would be if you were to transfer out).

atush

Agreed, if you are LGPS there is nothing in the new rules for you.

As a side note Kenny, the pension company MUST tell you how much your fund is worth.

Then if they dont want to allow DD then you just move your pot to a provider that will.

But you have other things to investigate before you take any cash out of your pension. Such as, if you are on any means test benefits how will the money affect that? You could be better off either leaving the money until you are SPA (or just take the TFLS if it wont give you too much savings to qualify) or to buy an enhanced annuity.

So do check.

kidmugsy

Lild wrote: »

Bit like the 6 yrs extra on the state pension age, I nor others agreed to that but they did it anyway, and in such a short space of time to make any provision for retirement.

Rubbish. The notice period for the sixth year was less than ideal, but the notice for the first five was about 15 years.