Scottish widows pension ; property fund trading suspended

Mistermeaner

Got this message when logging on to scottish widows to check my pension this morning:
IMPORTANT UPDATE ON PROPERTY FUNDS The extraordinary events of Covid19 are having an impact on the property market which is being disrupted due to the inability of surveyors to accurately value properties. This has resulted in fund managers suspending dealing in their property funds to protect investors’ interests. We will be writing to all pension plan members directly affected.

Interesting.... I wonder what they will do with my regular purchase of property fund? I presume hold as cash
This also throws another spanner in my plans to transfer away from scottish widows (albeit it is only 5% of my holdings)

Malthusian

It will be held as cash, yes - so assuming you have a long-term outlook, you shuold consider changing your regular investment so the money goes into cheap shares rather than rotting in cash.

If it's an uncrystallised fund you should be able to do a partial transfer of the non-property money. Though personally I wouldn't bother unless it made a material difference to my life (i.e. the transfer is to draw benefits rather than lower charges / convenience).

AnotherJoe

Always a possibilty with property funds.

Albermarle

Virtually all property (OEIC) funds are in the same boat at the moment . Hopefully they will reopen in a few months.

Apodemus

Mistermeaner said:

This also throws another spanner in my plans to transfer away from scottish widows (albeit it is only 5% of my holdings)

I'm in the same boat and really want to transfer out of my SW pension.  They tell me that the scheme does not permit a partial transfer, so the frozen property fund ties the whole lot up.  Nearly six months on from freezing the property fund, would it not seem reasonable in the circumstances for them to waive the partial transfer rule?

Prism

Apodemus said:

Mistermeaner said:

This also throws another spanner in my plans to transfer away from scottish widows (albeit it is only 5% of my holdings)

I'm in the same boat and really want to transfer out of my SW pension.  They tell me that the scheme does not permit a partial transfer, so the frozen property fund ties the whole lot up.  Nearly six months on from freezing the property fund, would it not seem reasonable in the circumstances for them to waive the partial transfer rule?

It could be a different type of pension plan, but my wife's Scottish Widows workplace pension allows partial transfers. The frozen property fund may still be an issue as you don't get to select which funds to sell (it sells a bit of all) when we did a partial transfer.

Albermarle

Prism said:

Apodemus said:

Mistermeaner said:

This also throws another spanner in my plans to transfer away from scottish widows (albeit it is only 5% of my holdings)

I'm in the same boat and really want to transfer out of my SW pension.  They tell me that the scheme does not permit a partial transfer, so the frozen property fund ties the whole lot up.  Nearly six months on from freezing the property fund, would it not seem reasonable in the circumstances for them to waive the partial transfer rule?

It could be a different type of pension plan, but my wife's Scottish Widows workplace pension allows partial transfers. The frozen property fund may still be an issue as you don't get to select which funds to sell (it sells a bit of all) when we did a partial transfer.

When I did a partial transfer from SW , they called me and asked which funds I wanted to use for the transfer.
Could be it is different from your experience as mine is an ex Zurich workplace pension , which SW took over about three years ago but still they  operate it separately , different staff/office etc .

Apodemus

Mine is a personal pension rather than workplace and dates from the mid-90s, when it was set up by my (now deceased) FA/Accountant.  SW tell me that partial transfers are not permitted under the scheme rules.  I don't doubt that the small print allows them to prevent the transfer and I totally understand why the property fund needs to remain frozen.  It just seems a bit unreasonable that the combination means that I am locked-in. 

Albermarle

 It just seems a bit unreasonable that the combination means that I am locked-in. 

I can only agree. You would think some flexibility would be possible .

dunstonh

Apodemus said:

Mistermeaner said:

This also throws another spanner in my plans to transfer away from scottish widows (albeit it is only 5% of my holdings)

I'm in the same boat and really want to transfer out of my SW pension.  They tell me that the scheme does not permit a partial transfer, so the frozen property fund ties the whole lot up.  Nearly six months on from freezing the property fund, would it not seem reasonable in the circumstances for them to waive the partial transfer rule?

It is not a rule really.  It is a software capability issue.    They have to weigh up the choice of paying what could bemillions of pounds to recode a pension contract that is no longer available for a transaction that is rarely required.

When I did a partial transfer from SW , they called me and asked which funds I wanted to use for the transfer.
Could be it is different from your experience as mine is an ex Zurich workplace pension , which SW took over about three years ago but still they  operate it separately , different staff/office etc .

The product version is on different software. 

Apodemus

Thanks, Dunstonh, that's interesting.  Does the system not leave scope for manual handling of exceptions?