Scottish Widows Won't Let Me Transfer My Pension

AndyBSG

After some advice here.

I currently have two pensions with Scottish Widows.

One is my current employers scheme, the other one is a private pension I took out when I was self employed.

I pay £50 a month into the old one and have decided this is a waste of money, if I pay that £50 into my current company scheme then my company will match it so i'll get £100 a month paid in.

However, the £50 a month i'm paying into my old one is the minimum I can do otherwise I will incur a higher rate of charges.

So, given both pensions are invested in the same funds with the same pension provider and anything I pay into my company pension is matched by my company the solution is obvious.... Move everything into my company pension and reduce the charges i'm paying.

However, after trying this SW have written to me telling me they can't do it because I have to seek IFA advice and the transfer has to be done via an IFA.

Why would I pay an IFA to do something I can do myself?

I have also worked in financial services for over 2 decades for wealth and pension management firms and am more than capable of making these decisions myself!

Anyone know any way round this or had similar issues with Scottish Widows?

AndyBSG

Also worth noting the value of the pension I want to transfer is below £30,000 which I believe is the threshold for insisting on IFA advice and it is not a final salary or defined benefit scheme.

bowlhead99

If there is no special benefits, guaranteed annuity rates etc on the old pension and it is just a standard money purchase personal pension whose transfer-out value is simply the current value of the funds within, I would have thought you could transfer it out to pretty much any recognised scheme.

Perhaps the stumbling block is your current workplace pension not wanting to receive ad hoc lump sum transfers from other pensions on the terms agreed with your employer without your employer's adviser approving it because the workplace arrangement was set up through such an intermediary and that's how they want to receive transfers from outside that scheme. i.e. you are moving your old money from DIY to an advised channel?

Whereas perhaps they wouldn't have a problem of you took the old pension and its ongoing £50pm off to another provider?

dunstonh

However, after trying this SW have written to me telling me they can't do it because I have to seek IFA advice and the transfer has to be done via an IFA.

If the company pension has an intermediary attached to it (not necessarily an IFA) then SW will often insist the intermediary is used. Not on all contracts but does apply on some. They are allowed to do this on contracts put in place by an intermediary.

if the older pension has safeguarded benefits and the value of those benefits is over £30k then they cannot transfer it without an adviser being involved.

MEM62

AndyBSG wrote: »

Why would I pay an IFA to do something I can do myself?

I have also worked in financial services for over 2 decades for wealth and pension management firms and am more than capable of making these decisions myself!

If you work in the industry the you would not need to ask the question. You should be aware of the rules concerning the requirement for taking advice.

AndyBSG

MEM62 wrote: »

If you work in the industry the you would not need to ask the question. You should be aware of the rules concerning the requirement for taking advice.

I'm well aware of the requirements for advice on pension pots over £30k and on defined benefit schemes.

I know of no such rules for private stakeholder pension pots of nominal amounts.

xylophone

It appears that the value of the old SW is below £30,000 so that regardless of the SB question, it should be able to transfer out to another scheme without advice to a scheme that allows DIY.

Are you able to find another pension provider with charges lower than the old SW pension that accepts a DIY transfer in?

If so, is it possible to transfer the old SW to it, stop contributing and then divert the £50 a month to your employer's scheme?

dunstonh

I know of no such rules for private stakeholder pension pots of nominal amounts.

I have a client that routinely pays into a stakeholder on our agency which we do not get involved in. That is fine. However, you said you wanted to merge it with an occupational pension. Is that a GSHP, GPPP or CIMP?

AndyBSG

dunstonh wrote: »

I have a client that routinely pays into a stakeholder on our agency which we do not get involved in. That is fine. However, you said you wanted to merge it with an occupational pension. Is that a GSHP, GPPP or CIMP?

It's a group personal pension plan.

Currently waiting on SW to phone me back because it appears the reason for rejection is because they believe the pension fund i'm trying to transfer is a final salary one.

It isn't.

With the former employer I had a final salary pension but I also paid AVC's into a separate stakeholder scheme.

It's this stakeholder AVC one i'm transferring but they are recognising both the AVC and the final salary one as defined benefit schemes.

dunstonh

It's a group personal pension plan.

SW should have perhaps been a bit more specific. In these cases, it is not just any IFA. It is the scheme administrator linked to the group scheme. Quite a lot of times I have not been able to increment SW pensions (and other providers) without the scheme adviser/administrator doing it as they were the agents and SW would only accept it via them.

However, it is very much scheme dependent.

With the former employer I had a final salary pension but I also paid AVC's into a separate stakeholder scheme.

AVC is a specific product. And for regulatory purposes it falls under occupational pension classification and many do require the sign off from a pension transfer specialist in those cases. Maybe your reference to AVC confused them as it appears you didnt mean AVC.

AVC is a type of pension plan. You cant get Stakeholder AVCs. It would either be an AVC or a stakeholder (or other type). AVCs were typically offered on defined benefit schemes.

xylophone

This is becoming extremely confused.

OP, are you able to clarify the exact arrangement concerning the "old" pension scheme?

Did you have an AVC arrangement with SW that was connected with the DB scheme?

Or did your old employer have such an arrangement but you opted for a stakeholder plan instead and made personal payments into it?

See for example

http://reference.scottishwidows.co.uk/docs/43335SY.pdf


IS THIS THE ONLY WAY OF TOPPING
UP MY LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION
SCHEME (LGPS) BENEFITS?
No. You can contribute to a Free Standing AVC, Personal
Pension or Stakeholder Pension in your own name.
However, because your employer undertakes some of the
administration on our behalf, this plan is likely to offer
you more favourable terms than you’d otherwise receive.