Problem with LGPS AVCs with Prudential

billywhizz1966

My wife has just spent a very frustrating two hours on the phone to the Pru before giving up. She sent an e mail a week ago asking to increase her contribution from April. Having heard nothing back she tried to ring today. She initially was on hold for an hour and 15 minutes before getting to speak to one of the consultants. Having provided her policy details and explaining what she wanted to do he said he would need to pass her to one of his colleagues. Before she could say anything else she was promptly placed back into the same queue as before apologising for the delay but saying a consultant would be with her shortly. 40 minutes latter and completely frustrated she gave up. She actually will be retiring in 4 months and we were doing this to maximise her tax position as it can be drawn tax free but fear she will lose this opportunity as the Pru seem impossible to contact. Any suggestions ? I see a complaint takes 8 weeks to deal with which eats into the tax year. Any suggestions how she progress this ?  

stephenadarglas

My wife retires in two months.  She wont take the risk of payment delays and has stopped payments.  Erred on the side of caution - they cant be trusted.

jamjar92

stephenadarglas said:

My wife retires in two months.  She wont take the risk of payment delays and has stopped payments.  Erred on the side of caution - they cant be trusted.

Regardless of the current issues, that is the recommended course of action anyway.

Rich2808

billywhizz1966 said:

My wife has just spent a very frustrating two hours on the phone to the Pru before giving up. She sent an e mail a week ago asking to increase her contribution from April. Having heard nothing back she tried to ring today. She initially was on hold for an hour and 15 minutes before getting to speak to one of the consultants. Having provided her policy details and explaining what she wanted to do he said he would need to pass her to one of his colleagues. Before she could say anything else she was promptly placed back into the same queue as before apologising for the delay but saying a consultant would be with her shortly. 40 minutes latter and completely frustrated she gave up. She actually will be retiring in 4 months and we were doing this to maximise her tax position as it can be drawn tax free but fear she will lose this opportunity as the Pru seem impossible to contact. Any suggestions ? I see a complaint takes 8 weeks to deal with which eats into the tax year. Any suggestions how she progress this ?  

One option is to make a formal complaint with your HR department/pension fund administrators.
You are forced to use Prudential as the approved supplier for your AVC - as they have the contract having been appointed by your pension fund.
Maybe if local authority pension funds got their acts together, started representing their members and threatening to remove the Pru as their AVC provider - that might force the Pru to take action to improve things.
This is an absolutely appalling - even disgusting - situation for those who are soon to retire (like your wife) or have just retired - they have nearly 20 years before I retire to sort my investments out so its just an annoyance for me! 
PS Of course - as has been appointed out - the one thing the Pru never fail to do every month is deduct the management and admin charges! 

Gunner835

jamjar92 said:

stephenadarglas said:

My wife retires in two months.  She wont take the risk of payment delays and has stopped payments.  Erred on the side of caution - they cant be trusted.

Regardless of the current issues, that is the recommended course of action anyway.

Further to these two posts... I am still missing 3 payments and am also looking to retire this year, Do i take it from the posts above that it is advisable to stop paying into the avc a month or two before my retirement date? why is this please?

Thanks

bioboybill

billywhizz1966 said:

My wife has just spent a very frustrating two hours on the phone to the Pru before giving up. She sent an e mail a week ago asking to increase her contribution from April. Having heard nothing back she tried to ring today. She initially was on hold for an hour and 15 minutes before getting to speak to one of the consultants. Having provided her policy details and explaining what she wanted to do he said he would need to pass her to one of his colleagues. Before she could say anything else she was promptly placed back into the same queue as before apologising for the delay but saying a consultant would be with her shortly. 40 minutes latter and completely frustrated she gave up. She actually will be retiring in 4 months and we were doing this to maximise her tax position as it can be drawn tax free but fear she will lose this opportunity as the Pru seem impossible to contact. Any suggestions ? I see a complaint takes 8 weeks to deal with which eats into the tax year. Any suggestions how she progress this ?  

I wish it did only take 8 weeks to deal with! My 8 weeks is up and I got my third letter today saying that they need more time and will write again in 4 weeks, and they say they may need more time after that! I am going to the Financial Ombudsman now, as this is totally unacceptable. Unfortunately the Ombudsman takes months to decide too. In fact it can take 6 months to allocate a case. Protection for the consumer is awful tbh.

jamjar92

Gunner835 said:

Further to these two posts... I am still missing 3 payments and am also looking to retire this year, Do i take it from the posts above that it is advisable to stop paying into the avc a month or two before my retirement date? why is this please?

Thanks

Generally its best to stop 1/2 months before the selected retirement month, so not to delay payment when taking with the main scheme pension. This is so the figures can to forwarded your LGPS provider and they do all the paperwork. Any payments waiting to be posted to the account would this figure to being provided the LGPS provider.

The delays here are to do with Covid-19 and the news system. There may be delays with LPGS provider as well.

Maybe apply a 0% purchase card to cover any delays.

Gunner835

Thanks Jamjar92

Laycity

billywhizz1966 said:

My wife has just spent a very frustrating two hours on the phone to the Pru before giving up. She sent an e mail a week ago asking to increase her contribution from April. Having heard nothing back she tried to ring today. She initially was on hold for an hour and 15 minutes before getting to speak to one of the consultants. Having provided her policy details and explaining what she wanted to do he said he would need to pass her to one of his colleagues. Before she could say anything else she was promptly placed back into the same queue as before apologising for the delay but saying a consultant would be with her shortly. 40 minutes latter and completely frustrated she gave up. She actually will be retiring in 4 months and we were doing this to maximise her tax position as it can be drawn tax free but fear she will lose this opportunity as the Pru seem impossible to contact. Any suggestions ? I see a complaint takes 8 weeks to deal with which eats into the tax year. Any suggestions how she progress this ?  

You can amend payments using the on line portal. I did this in early January and received a letter confirming the changes a few days later. I’m hopefully expecting the changes to be reflected in payroll this week for the end of March salary.

stephenadarglas

Gunner835 said:

jamjar92 said:

stephenadarglas said:

My wife retires in two months.  She wont take the risk of payment delays and has stopped payments.  Erred on the side of caution - they cant be trusted.

Regardless of the current issues, that is the recommended course of action anyway.

Further to these two posts... I am still missing 3 payments and am also looking to retire this year, Do i take it from the posts above that it is advisable to stop paying into the avc a month or two before my retirement date? why is this please?

Thanks

Jamjar is corrrect.  In normal circumstances two months would be appropriate so that the LGPS and Prudential can sync' so that there's no delays to your pension and lump sum however as biobill has alluded to this cannot be done until all the payments have been accounted for.  Therefore there could be delays to pension payments, and the advice you need, to make the correct decisions based on your own personal circumstances..