How do I set up a SIPP for someone who does not speak English and can’t use a computer

sj15

Linton said:

sj15 said:

Brynsam said:

Why does she (or you) need to speak at all? You can do everything online for her, or print out hard copy forms, fill them in and get her to sign.

This was my plan.. Get the money transferred in to a new pot and I could help her draw it down online. 
It's just I had a call with Aviva earlier and they were saying she needs to go online and do it herself and if they call her she needs to answer any questions herself. So I thought if they called her - we're screwed as she will struggle to answer.
I understand power of attorney is an option - just seems extreme. But I don't have many more options.  

Power of Attorney is not extreme in these circumstances, it just gives you legal authority to manage your mother's finances and will avoid hassle in the future.  Whilst your mother is mentally capable of making financial decisions even with PoA you should ensure that she makes those decisions and that you do not do something without consulting her.

PoA only gets "extreme"  once the donor loses mental capacity.

Would an "Ordinary Power of Attorney", which I understand we can get from a solicitor, be enough to manage this pension set up?

macman

You don't need a POA or anything else to set up a SIPP in your mother's name. As others have said, that can be done online in a few minutes, you just need basic info (NI no. etc) and an email address (yours). Make the minimum  deposit required into it.
This is no different to you registering your mum for an online utility/savings/bank account that you access and operate for her, with her agreement obviously.
Once that is done, then you can tackle the transfer of the shared pension from the other party. That bit may require more intervention by your mother, but probably little more than instructing the outgoing provider as to where the transfer must go, and supplying the necessary ID. I see no reason why you can't do this for her, or with her.
POA may well be something to look at for the future, but, even with it, you'll still have to go through exactly the same stages that you would do without it. You'd need a translator to attend the interview along with the solicitor, in order that he can establish that she is of sound mind. 
OP, you need to tell us if the original fund has already been divided and in an account created for your mum with the original provider? if that is the case, then all you need to do is open the new account and ask them to do the transfer over as the incoming provider: again, this can all be done online just like any standard pension transfer. Some require a signature on paper, most now do not.
This process is being massively overcomplicated by suggestions that you need a POA or an IFA. You don't.

macman

PS: re choice of SIPP providers, read the MSE Guide to SIPP's. 
HL are very expensive ,with an annual charge of 0.45%. Both AJ Bell and Vanguard are very much cheaper for the small pension pot you are investing: 0.25% and 0.15% respectively.
Aviva charge 0.4%.

sj15

macman said:

You don't need a POA or anything else to set up a SIPP in your mother's name. As others have said, that can be done online in a few minutes, you just need basic info (NI no. etc) and an email address (yours). Make the minimum  deposit required into it.
This is no different to you registering your mum for an online utility/savings/bank account that you access and operate for her, with her agreement obviously.
Once that is done, then you can tackle the transfer of the shared pension from the other party. That bit may require more intervention by your mother, but probably little more than instructing the outgoing provider as to where the transfer must go, and supplying the necessary ID. I see no reason why you can't do this for her, or with her.
POA may well be something to look at for the future, but, even with it, you'll still have to go through exactly the same stages that you would do without it. You'd need a translator to attend the interview along with the solicitor, in order that he can establish that she is of sound mind. 
OP, you need to tell us if the original fund has already been divided and in an account created for your mum with the original provider? if that is the case, then all you need to do is open the new account and ask them to do the transfer over as the incoming provider: again, this can all be done online just like any standard pension transfer. Some require a signature on paper, most now do not.
This process is being massively overcomplicated by suggestions that you need a POA or an IFA. You don't.

Hiya. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I don't know if the original pension has been divided. It's coming from a defined benefit pension from my mums ex-husband..

I'm guessing they will redo the CETV at some point during a transfer and then divide it with the latest £ values. 

So far we have applied for a transfer with Aviva, setting it up online (through me, but with her there) an entering the details of her ex-husbands pension when asked where the transfer is coming from. 

Now it's just fingers crossed it all goes OK, if they need to speak to my mum directly about things then it could break down. I'm hoping that I can answer for her where she gets stuck. Otherwise I don't know what else to do.

macman

How can you apply for a transfer if the funds are not yet divided and available? Has the original provider been given instructions to carry out the division? Is this a voluntary agreement by her ex following a financial settlement, or has a court ordered it?
I can't see any circumstances where they are going to just call her up and ask questions, because they have no way to verify her ID. It would probably involve some form of paperwork and signature.
I rather suspect you are putting the cart before the horse here. 

macman

NB: I note that she is intending to draw £40-50K straight out of the 70K lump sum? This really is not a good idea, as she can only take 25% (£17.5K) as a tax-free lump sum. Anything above that will be taxed as income at her marginal rate.

[Deleted User]

Brynsam said:

Deleted_User said:

xylophone said:

IFA would be a very good idea in this particular case. 

The amount in question is only £70,000 and the OP's mother wants to access around £40,000 of that  as soon as possible.

Exactly. She is clueless and the OP isn’t in a position to help. Money spent on advice will be well spent. 

Why? Setting up an online SIPP isn't rocket science and few providers are likely to want to ring up and start chatting to mum. 

OP, good explanation here (ignore the bits about specialist SIPPs such as property SIPPS and scroll down towards the bit about setting one up): https://www.onlinemoneyadvisor.co.uk/pensions/sipps/set-up-sipp/

Setting up a SIPP isn’t rocket science, but they still couldn’t do it. That’s not the advice OP’s mother needs. She is close to retirement and clueless about money, as is the OP. He is not prepared to act on her behalf. She has no language to learn about risks and options she has. 

In most cases people go to IFAs because they are too lazy to learn and take responsibility. In this case a good IFA who can speak her language  would earn his money. 

[Deleted User]

sj15 said:

Deleted_User said:

xylophone said:

IFA would be a very good idea in this particular case. 

The amount in question is only £70,000 and the OP's mother wants to access around £40,000 of that  as soon as possible.

Exactly. She is clueless and the OP isn’t in a position to help. Money spent on advice will be well spent. 

Please expand on this.
My mother has a pension share coming her way from a DB pension and knows exactly what she wants to do with it.

I.e. take out the tax free lump sum, then some more (she understand the tax implication - and emergency tax needed to be claimed back). The rest she wants to invest and possibly pay in to later.

What makes it clueless? We've had initial consultations with multiple IFA's and told them our plan and they were happy to implement it for us. We're trying to save a few grand by doing it ourselves.

If you think there is something obvious we've missed then let us know. Presumably IFA's will hit the same language barrier hurdles with a provider like Aviva or HL or will they set it up with for us and happily deal with me instead of my mum?

Why aren’t you prepared to take on the Power of Attorney? 

What makes you think “getting on a property ladder” is the right thing to do for someone of her age and with 70k total in her pension fund? 

What do you know about risks? What does she know about it? What do you or her know about investment options if you never heard of major SIPP providers? Why SIPP? What will she invest in? What could go wrong? 

Do you even know what questions to ask here? 

sj15

macman said:

How can you apply for a transfer if the funds are not yet divided and available? Has the original provider been given instructions to carry out the division? Is this a voluntary agreement by her ex following a financial settlement, or has a court ordered it?
I can't see any circumstances where they are going to just call her up and ask questions, because they have no way to verify her ID. It would probably involve some form of paperwork and signature.
I rather suspect you are putting the cart before the horse here. 

Hi Macman, the pension sharing order has been shared with the original pension provider that her ex husband is with.
They sent forms to us in the post, asking for where her % split of the transfer pot should be sent to (stated as the pension credit). On the form it asks for policy number and name for the new pension arrangement. 

There's no £ values here but that will come later when the pot is revalued (I would imagine).

sj15

macman said:

NB: I note that she is intending to draw £40-50K straight out of the 70K lump sum? This really is not a good idea, as she can only take 25% (£17.5K) as a tax-free lump sum. Anything above that will be taxed as income at her marginal rate.

So, she will take 25% tax free. Then she has no income (except Income related ESA which is not taxable) meaning she can take another £12.5k without tax. So I think that's around £30k tax free. That leaves £20k that is taxable at 20% so she loses out on £4k tax. Rough sums but that's what we were thinking.

I know about emergency tax, so we'll try and make some small withdrawals first to counter it. If not we need to claim tax back from HRMC which takes 4weeks.

Not the end of the world (but hardly ideal), but will need to consider it when buying a property as to the timing of when to withdraw. She needs that pension money to top up the money she got from the sale of the marriage house which isn't enough for her buy a reasonable property. She is renting with me currently.