Louise contacted us about the length of time it took her adviser to inform the transfer of her pension would not be going ahead.
What happened
Louise was unhappy about the length of time it took her adviser to inform her its pension transfer specialist had decided no longer to advise on the transfer of her British Steel Pension Scheme, which is an occupational pension scheme (OPS), to a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).
Louise was informed a month after the pension transfer deadline. Louise got a new transfer value quote, and this was over £100,000 less than the previous quote.
Louise told us that this delay meant she had no time to find an alternative adviser before the deadline for her Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) expired. As the CETV had reduced after that deadline, Louise wanted to be compensated for her financial loss.
What we said
We thought Louise should have been informed sooner that the transfer would not be proceeding as this would have given her the option of seeking assistance elsewhere.
However, we concluded that the business was not responsible for the reduction in the CETV as these can rise and fall in value. Further, at that point it had been over two years since the last CETV was produced so it could have changed again.
We also noted the potential advantages to Louise’s current situation in not having transferred including the valuable benefits she may have lost in transferring out of her OPS.
However, we acknowledged the delay that Louise had faced, so we asked the business to compensate her £500 for this.