Transfer Issues- Virgin to NEST

legreen

My employer and I used to pay into a Virgin Money Stakeholder Pension. After auto-enrolment we moved to NEST.

I want to transfer my pot from Virgin to NEST however neither company will fill in the other's forms or accept standardised information.

I've been going around in circles since April. Anyone got any advice as to how I can move forward?

Thanks in advance.

xylophone

https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/public/members/contents/transferring-your-pension-pot.html

it appears that all that is required is that Virgin complete the NEST transfer form and send it to you once completed for you to send to NEST.

https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/assets/templates/pension_tsandcs/VirginMoneyPension_tcm_tcm19-19165.pdf

Can I transfer my Virgin Pension?
Yes, you can do this at any time

It seems to be Virgin that is creating the obstruction?

Make a formal complaint - see link above.

legreen

I've just contacted the pension advisory service and will make a complaint to Virgin.

They require a form to do a transfer out and NEST a form to transfer in. As neither will fill out forms I'm stuck in the middle.

Should I be making a complaint to NEST as well?

xylophone

They require a form to do a transfer out and NEST a form to transfer in.

Did you follow the process outlined in the link?

It seems that as far as Nest is concerned, all that is required is for Virgin to complete the NEST form?

In your position, I would begin with the formal complaint to Virgin.

dunstonh

I want to transfer my pot from Virgin to NEST however neither company will fill in the other's forms or accept standardised information.

No pension companies fill in the discharge forms issued by the other provider. That is quite normal and has been this way for well over a decade.

For those pension providers that use OPTIONS as the transfer method, it is all electronic. Indeed, discharge forms are not usually required. For those that do it by paper, each provider supplies the required data in its own format which is sufficient without the need to fill out someone elses forms manually. To help you understand it a bit better, NEST are asking Virgin to supply details about the pension by writing them onto the NEST form. Virgin are saying we dont need to write it on your form as here is all the information you need on our information sheet. Nest are saying that they are ignoring that sheet of printed text and want someone to write it in handwriting on their form.

I have transferred a number of Virgin pensions away over the years and never had any issues. NEST on the other hand are known to be very difficult here and they are virtually unique in trying to get other pension companies to fill out forms.

I would be complaining to NEST as they are the odd one out.

legreen

Thanks for the replies.

I have finally obtained information from Virgin (after a letter and two phone calls) that I have forwarded to NEST. Fingers crossed the transfer will proceed.

I will be making complaints I think to both parties if it doesn't.

andyfiggy2002

legreen, did you resolve this issue as I'm suffering the same problem with NEST??

DietIrnBru

I've had the exact same issue with NEST in trying to transfer my pension from Scottish Widows. NEST claimed they needed their form completed - Scottish Widows countered saying that this was not the case. Been going round in circles with them to the point of making a complaint.

NEST_Pensions

Hi,
We are sorry that you have been going round in circles with getting providers to fill in forms. If the other provider has provided you with information about your pension pot in their own format then you can send this to us. We just need to make sure that you have checked the information as part of helping you to decide whether to transfer your pension pot to NEST. We need this information along with your completed and signed NEST transfer in form to finish the process. I hope this is helpful however if you have any problems then please ring our contact centre on 0300 020 0393.