LGPS AVC or SIPP?

AlanP_2

MX5huggy said:

The AVC is the cherry on top on the LGPS, if you can get it via Salary Sacrifice then that’s the gold dusting. I think shared cost is a different name for Salary Sacrifice, but check if they say no then contact your finance director/ local councillors or council cabinet member for finance and ask why they don’t offer it and why they don’t want to save 13.8% employer NI on all AVC contributions. 

As someone who knows an ex HR Director for a LA very well the main answer would be that it's not worth the effort for the interest there are in AVCs from the staff.

500+ staff, 2 of which were using the AVC option (and that included the ex HR Director themselves).

OldBeanz

Chloe_G said:

So now I've just got to decide between Prudential and Standard Life and which fund  - by the time I decide I'll already be retired!!

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

saucer

OldBeanz said:

Chloe_G said:

So now I've just got to decide between Prudential and Standard Life and which fund  - by the time I decide I'll already be retired!!

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

Albeit my better half is in a LGPS AVC with Prudential and have had no problems. Even the website works very well through which you can keep updated on the investments and move them.

Chloe_G

OldBeanz said:

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

OK, read it - Standard Life is looking good!  Thanks.

OldBeanz

saucer said:

OldBeanz said:

Chloe_G said:

So now I've just got to decide between Prudential and Standard Life and which fund  - by the time I decide I'll already be retired!!

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

Albeit my better half is in a LGPS AVC with Prudential and have had no problems. Even the website works very well through which you can keep updated on the investments and move them.

The Prudential gave up supporting the site during Covid. They would not respond to our local authority contact or the payroll providers. All they could do is hope people would not complain. We eventually had to go through the Pension Ombudsman.

This is the announcement on the site at present
"Announcement

We have implemented a system upgrade and some online documents are temporarily unavailable. If you are due to receive a communication online while documents are unavailable, we will send it to you by post instead. Once the system upgrade has been completed, your online documents will be available to view. We apologise for any inconvenience."

The Pru have been good for my wife as they have paid out over £1700 in 5 different payments, a number of which were enhanced because they had not responded within 8 weeks 

They also reported themselves to the Pension Ombudsman:

"The delays in processing benefits and uploading records were compounded by “very poor communications”, according to the source. 

Prudential introduced a new contact portal and withdrew its customer phone support as the issues rumbled on, while coronavirus infections among Prudential staff further delayed the provider’s ability to deal with the backlog."

https://www.pensions-expert.com/DB-Derisking/Prudential-reports-itself-to-regulator-over-AVC-failings?ct=true

AlanP_2

Chloe_G said:

OldBeanz said:

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

OK, read it - Standard Life is looking good!  Thanks.

Used SL for ours and it was absolutely fine, never any issues with late payments or poor service.

arthurdick

AlanP_2 said:

Chloe_G said:

OldBeanz said:

You may care to browse some of the 34 pages on this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6240757/problem-with-lgps-avcs-with-prudential/p1

OK, read it - Standard Life is looking good!  Thanks.

Used SL for ours and it was absolutely fine, never any issues with late payments or poor service.

Same here, no problems with SL.