Complain to pension company or ombudsman?

pitza

Hi.

I am in the process of buying an annuity from Scottish Widows through my financial advisor.

The process of bringing three personal pensions together from three different companies has been going on since May of this year and the communication from Scottish Widows has been appalling.

My advisor has made a written complaint on my behalf for which I have received an acknowledgement from Scottish Widows.

Should I also write to the ombudsman about how long this has been going on and the lack of communication?

eskbanker

When was the complaint logged with Scottish Widows?

Isthisforreal99

And you know it's Scottish Widows holding things up?

pitza

Complaint was on the 8th September,

My advisor has assured me that it's the outdated way that Scottish Widows work.

"A lot of the delay appear to have come about because the application form Scottish Widows provide is severely outdated to their actual process for annuity applications."

Isthisforreal99

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140174#Comment_82140174

So you can't go to FOS until 8 weeks from 8th September. Do you know for sure that the transfers to SW have happened?

dunstonh

"A lot of the delay appear to have come about because the application form Scottish Widows provide is severely outdated to their actual process for annuity applications."

I've submitted several annuities to SW this year. Their process is no more outdated than any other annuity provider. SW accept an online application, the old-fashioned paper application, and have a PDF with macros in it for completion, so there's a choice of methods.

That said, they do have a quirk on their application system where, if any of the ceding schemes is worth less than £10,000, you can't use the online application.

So I don't buy the reason that the application method is the fault. Even if the old method of the paper application is completed rather than the online application, Scottish Widows accept a scanned copy emailed to them from the advisor firm.

Like all annuity providers, and this goes without exception, when their rate is top, they get inundated with applications, and their service level slows down.

Should I also write to the ombudsman about how long this has been going on and the lack of communication?

It's worth finding out who the fault is with. Typically, when the annuity provider makes a request via Origo, you're then looking at days to a few weeks. However, if you're transferring from a workplace pension or a lesser-known provider, then they can do it the old way, in which case you're talking months. It can be especially long if one of the schemes is from your final employer. Those can't usually be transferred out until after your final payroll payment has been made and the employer has told the auto-enrolment scheme that you are no longer an active member. That is something that frequently catches people out.

Anyway, you have to go through the complaints process of the company first before you can go to the ombudsman. With the complaint only made on the 8th of September, you can't do that yet.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683680/complain-to-pension-company-or-ombudsman

The delay may not be on the part of SW. It may rest with the original pension schemes. Are there any complications with them - eg final bonuses.

You may have online access to those schemes and be able to see if they still show they are holding the money (or if they have paid SW).

When I did a similar thing in 2024 the first pension paid the annuity provider on 1 August and the last one paid on 28 August. Some annuities pay out when they get each bit of money but others only pay out when they have got the last bit. To be fair the ones that paid at the end of August did include a bit of interest for late payment.

pitza

One of the pensions is with royal London (originally the coop), one is actually with Scottish Widows and the other one is a sipp I did myself with Best Invest.

I was told by my advisor that the wrong forms were sent to Best Invest by Scottish Widows so they had to be sent again and Royal London wanted to see the advice that my advisor had given me.

I've checked my accounts and both Royal London and Best Invest have transferred the money to Scottish Widows

xylophone

if any of the seeding schemes

The corniest?😀

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140345#Comment_82140345

Whoops! I rely on Wispr Flow for voice dictation. It's very good, but sometimes needs a bit of training. I’ve edited it to “ceding,”.

I was told by my advisor that the wrong forms were sent to Best Invest by Scottish Widows so they had to be sent again and Royal London wanted to see the advice that my advisor had given me.

Best Invest and Scottish Widows both use Origo. No forms should have been necessary, since the process is completely electronic.

Royal London would not want to see the advice your advisor gave you. Royal London (ex CIS) would have issued a financial advice declaration because you are giving up safeguarded benefits. Again, I've done this many times with them as the old CIS guaranteed annuity rates are pretty rubbish in most cases. The advisor must sign a declaration stating that they have given financial advice and that they have regulatory permission to handle a transfer when there is a guaranteed annuity rate. The form doesn’t ask for the advice or its reasons; it simply verifies that the advisor gave advice.

Scottish Widows also uses Origo for internal transfers from SW original policies and SW platform. Some heritage policies (i.e. old ones) require manual transfers. Some legacy brands now using the SW brand but were not SW originals require manual transfers.

The statutory timescale allowed for a transfer of a DC pension is 6 months.

If the SW pension is your final employment pension, then you would expect it to take longer.

Royal London on the ex CIS side is typically very slow. Just because it disappeared from your login doesn't mean the money has arrived at the other end, though.

I've checked my accounts and both Royal London and Best Invest have transferred the money to Scottish Widows

If you have multiple schemes, you wouldn't use the open‑market option transfer method. You should use the IVPPP method. i.e., all schemes get transferred to the annuity provider. Once all schemes have arrived, the tax‑free cash is released and a single annuity is purchased. You're always waiting for the last one to come over.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140307#Comment_82140307

@dunstonh knows a lot more about this sort of thing than I do but I think it is a good sign that the funds appear to have left the old pensions. For me at least that did seem to tie up with the annuity provider getting the money. Despite my 2024 annuity involving multiple pensions it was done as an open market option (something the annuity provider wanted and I never asked why (and we did go down a blind alley, filling in the wrong forms when we originally thought it was an IVPP)). Because it was an open market option I was able to see when the various tax free lump sums landed in my account so I knew the money had been paid. If yours is an IVPP then you won't have that second check. But still your adviser should be able to ask SW if they have all the money surely.

My second annuity was actually with SW and for an SW pension. I do remember that the pension bit and the annuity bit of SW behaved like they were completely separate organisations. I was a bit surprised about that. But I don't remember any particular delay with the annuity bit of SW. The process did take from April until the end of August but that was more to do with letting a GAR expire to avoid the need for advice than anything else.