Scottish Widows refusing to let me transfer my pension to a SIPP - What can I do?

bowlhead99

lookatbowen said:

Cus said:

In the meantime you could sell all the funds except the property fund, then  put it in a SW fund(s) that is as close to what you would eventually do on your own in a SIPP?  At least that way, while you are waiting for it to be sorted, you don't feel like you are losing out.

Yes, Cus, I thought of that already, the thing is I don't want to sell all the funds, I want to partially sell 50% and put that into a SIPP and leave the other 50% in the SW funds that I have, as they are doing well. But I know I can do better with the other half. Also, why should I pay for a new fund and give some fund manager more of my hard earned money. Seems a bit daft! 

Well, SW are not allowing you to do a partial transfer when they would fund a partial transfer by selling units proportionally across your account. You can only work within the rules they give you.  The suggestion to move the other holdings that you were proposing to sell down, into another fund on the SW platform which is closer to the eventual asset mix you would have chosen to buy within your SIPP, is simply being suggested as something you might like to do 'while you are waiting for it to be sorted'. 

Don't shoot the messenger - the answer to  'why should I pay for a new fund...' is simply that we know you don't really want the funds you currently hold (because you would prefer a SIPP), and are unable to move the money to a new platform (because of the closed fund issue) so a partial solution is to find fund(s) that you prefer on the current platform and use that one / those ones instead, while waiting until you can get the money out of the property fund and set up the transfer.

lookatbowen

bowlhead99 said:

lookatbowen said:

Cus said:

In the meantime you could sell all the funds except the property fund, then  put it in a SW fund(s) that is as close to what you would eventually do on your own in a SIPP?  At least that way, while you are waiting for it to be sorted, you don't feel like you are losing out.

Yes, Cus, I thought of that already, the thing is I don't want to sell all the funds, I want to partially sell 50% and put that into a SIPP and leave the other 50% in the SW funds that I have, as they are doing well. But I know I can do better with the other half. Also, why should I pay for a new fund and give some fund manager more of my hard earned money. Seems a bit daft! 

Well, SW are not allowing you to do a partial transfer when they would fund a partial transfer by selling units proportionally across your account. You can only work within the rules they give you.  The suggestion to move the other holdings that you were proposing to sell down, into another fund on the SW platform which is closer to the eventual asset mix you would have chosen to buy within your SIPP, is simply being suggested as something you might like to do 'while you are waiting for it to be sorted'. 
Yes - I know, sorry, I wasn't trying to be arsey about it.  
Don't shoot the messenger - the answer to  'why should I pay for a new fund...' is simply that we know you don't really want the funds you currently hold (because you would prefer a SIPP), and are unable to move the money to a new platform (because of the closed fund issue) so a partial solution is to find fund(s) that you prefer on the current platform and use that one / those ones instead, while waiting until you can get the money out of the property fund and set up the transfer.

Bowlhead99, you are right, sorry the question I asked wasn't meant to be a question per se, more of a frustration, but I can see how it came across.
I want to invest in stocks, similar to what I do at the moment via a brokerage, but on a bigger scale, and scouring through the SW funds for something similar seems like a lot of work, whereas I know what I want to buy in the SIPP.
A little patience is needed for the property funds to come back online to trade. Hopefully not too long now!

dunstonh

SW are lifting suspensions on some of the funds available on their various contracts:
https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/global/fundchanges/#collapseProperty-restrictions-lifted

lookatbowen

dunstonh said:

SW are lifting suspensions on some of the funds available on their various contracts:
https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/global/fundchanges/#collapseProperty-restrictions-lifted

Yes, I've been keeping a close eye on this status page. My property fund isn't listed there yet, even though my pension doesn't begin with ZU. I received an SMS from the Scottish Widows Ombudsom today. 
We're still looking into your complaint on 7th September 2020. We appreciate that this has taken longer than expected, we're sorry about this. We'll be in touch to explain what's happened and what we're going to do if it still isn't resolved by 26/10/2020. :-(
Why it has taken this long to respond/resolve is beyond me? Nothing more really to say. I continue to be patient. 

lookatbowen

The wait is over!